Learn more about the Living Wage movement

June 28, 2006

EDITOR: Once again, the Senate Republican leadership sank a proposal to raise the minimum wage last week, leaving the federal minimum at $5.15 per hour, where it has been mired at the bottom since 1997. Opposition to raising the minimum wage was justified by its opponents on the basis of a failed and discredited free market fundamentalist doctrine that claims that raising the wage for workers at the bottom of the economic ladder would lead to higher levels of unemployment.

Despite reams of economic studies that demonstrate that raising the wage floor is an economic stimulus, as well as the morally correct thing to do, they cling to this cruel social Darwinist belief like an article of religious faith. The creditable academic studies demonstrate that a boost to wage earners at the bottom of the economy creates a virtuous cycle of improved productivity and increased economic activity, in addition to reducing the burden on public sector social programs, subsidized by the taxpayers.

The proponents of the free market fundamentalist theory are on a par with global warming deniers. In fact, they are often the same people. Their ideological ancestors opposed the passage of the first minimum wage laws in this country back in the Depression era, using the same shopworn argument.

This ideological brainlock in Washington has led to a grassroots national response to the crisis of working poverty, the Living Wage movement. More than 130 Living Wage ordinances have been passed across the United States in the last decade, setting a community standard that has raised private sector wage rates in those cities and counties. The Living Wage applies only to the city or county workers and to businesses that have major contracts with those governments. It does not apply to all workers, but it is a step in the right direction.

Please join us on Wednesday, June 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Petaluma Public Library, 100 Fairgrounds Drive, to learn more about the Living Wage movement and our proposed ordinance for the city of Petaluma.

BEN BOYCE, Living Wage Coalition of Sonoma County, Sonoma