The Craft of Writing Editorials Questions

1. The editorial opens with a description of the horrible conditions a low ranked kitchen worker works in. With this, Kingsbury has already created an argument and most likely gotten the reader on her side. The lead tells the reader the topic of the editorial (working conditions of restaurant workers) and draws the reader in with the pathos of the paragraph.

2. The rise of the restaurant industry in America and the widening income gap.

3. That raising the wages of restaurant workers would result in less jobs. She disproves this by using California as an example. California has just raised the wages of their restaurant workers and it has actually resulted in growth in the industry.

4. Fairness, concern for the children of workers, it would combat income inequality.

5. Restaurant workers face a poverty rate of nearly 3 times that of the rest of the workforce.

6. She says consumers must pressure the industry to change and that lawmakers should reject the demands of the National Restaurant Association.

7. The National Restaurant Association is mostly responsible for the tipped minimum wage in Massachusetts. Tipped minimum wage is in which restaurants pay workers 2.63 with the expectation that tips will make up for the rest of it.

8. Restaurant owners blame slim profit margins and intense competition for these low wages and working conditions.

9. She says that raising wages wouldn't change competition because every restaurant would have to abide.

10. They work more than one job in order to stay afloat. Oftentimes they're also supporting their family both here and in their home country if they're an immigrant.

11. The paragraph about Filiberto Lopez humanizes the issue by providing the story of someone directly affected by the low pay and working conditions of restaurant workers.

12. Restaurant owners routinely do not pay their workers overtime, break child labor laws, and often either fail to pay minimum wage or to even pay workers at all.

13. Fairly common, the US Department of Labor conducted 165 investigations in the restaurant industry in 2013 and retrieved more that $1.7 million in back wages.

14. Kingsbury advises the mayor of Boston to pass an ordinance preventing those who are guilty of wage theft from getting or renewing permits, preventing them from doing business.

15. The conclusive paragraph is written with a proposed solution for the problem. I think it is effective because it gives the reader the impression that the problem can be fixed if we are proactive. It's different than other conclusions because, other than wrapping up the idea and closing it, the conclusive paragraph leaves it open.