I just attended a rousing press conference put on by the good people at Pueblo, and organized thanks to the efforts of many people including the webmaster over at the highly important Hoverbike blog. A story about today's press conference appeared on the front page of the Santa Barbara News-Press.
The Santa Barbara for a Living Wage Coalition has forwarded an ordinance which would require the city of Santa Barbara to supply all workers with a living wage. This wage would be based on a federal formula which takes into account the cost of living in Santa Barbara County.
Currently, many part-time city workers receive poverty-level wages -- particularly when the high cost of living in Santa Barbara is taken into account. It seems like a no-brainer that the city would move to give its workers a wage that is fair. While opponents might claim that a living wage ordinance would stifle competition, it seems to me that the ordinance would encourage companies to pay workers a fair wage if they hope to compete for a city contract. Furthermore, it seems to me that not paying a living wage costs our community more in the long run. First of all, many workers have to live far from their place of work becuase they can't pay rent nearby. That increases traffic, increases pollution, and strains families. Speaking of straining families, when parents are forced to work 3 or 4 jobs simply to pay the rent, its difficult to raise a family. It seems to me that a good place to start improving the conditions of working people in Santa Barbara is with our tax dollars -- our tax dollars should not be used to subsidize poverty. We must demand that they be used to support workers with a fair wage.
Sadly, the issue is not yet even on the agenda at the city council. Even more sadly, the city council has recently changed its rules making it very difficult to put new items on the agenda. The campaign launched today is currently working just to get the issue on the agenda. Right now, the city council is meeting. During this meeting, members of the Living Wage Coalition will speak in support of placing this issue on the agenda.
Stay with us for more updates as they happen, and for information on how you can get involved.
The Santa Barbara for a Living Wage Coalition has forwarded an ordinance which would require the city of Santa Barbara to supply all workers with a living wage. This wage would be based on a federal formula which takes into account the cost of living in Santa Barbara County.
Currently, many part-time city workers receive poverty-level wages -- particularly when the high cost of living in Santa Barbara is taken into account. It seems like a no-brainer that the city would move to give its workers a wage that is fair. While opponents might claim that a living wage ordinance would stifle competition, it seems to me that the ordinance would encourage companies to pay workers a fair wage if they hope to compete for a city contract. Furthermore, it seems to me that not paying a living wage costs our community more in the long run. First of all, many workers have to live far from their place of work becuase they can't pay rent nearby. That increases traffic, increases pollution, and strains families. Speaking of straining families, when parents are forced to work 3 or 4 jobs simply to pay the rent, its difficult to raise a family. It seems to me that a good place to start improving the conditions of working people in Santa Barbara is with our tax dollars -- our tax dollars should not be used to subsidize poverty. We must demand that they be used to support workers with a fair wage.
Sadly, the issue is not yet even on the agenda at the city council. Even more sadly, the city council has recently changed its rules making it very difficult to put new items on the agenda. The campaign launched today is currently working just to get the issue on the agenda. Right now, the city council is meeting. During this meeting, members of the Living Wage Coalition will speak in support of placing this issue on the agenda.
Stay with us for more updates as they happen, and for information on how you can get involved.
Actually, the critique of living wage laws isn't that they stifle competition, it's that they reduce total employment. I won't get into all the economics (I think it involves graphs), but the idea is that you can either give either give 5 people a living wage, or employ 10 people in a competetive labor market. Essentially, it is a question of whether it is better to pay fewer people more or more people less.
actually dave, there are tons of critiques of living wage laws. unfortunately, no one has really been able to find much evidence to support those critiques. Even the opponents who have looked at the data would not agree with you, that there is a one to one tradeoff. Check out this paper, for example, which finds a small reduction in employment, as well as a reduction in urban poverty. And that is an opponent of the living wage!
http://papers.nber.org/papers/W7606