Free Republic

Expect a 2005 General Assembly showdown over Arlington County’s so-called “living wage” ordinance. The County Board’s draft 2005 legislative package, set to be adopted on Dec. 11, makes an explicit call for the General Assembly to leave the ordinance – now 18 months old – alone. But the General Assembly, which came close to nixing the living-wage rules during this year’s session, may again take up the matter after it convenes in January. In June 2003, County Board members voted 5-0 to establish a living-wage ordinance, joining a handful of Virginia localities that include Richmond, Charlottesville and Alexandria. Under the...

After years of constant turnover, Optical Insights had had enough of the "Santa Fe Shuffle." Citing increasing difficulty hiring, training and retaining good employees in the City Different, the optical instrument firm closed its doors June 25 and moved to Tucson. Observant readers may have noticed the firm, which in 2003 appeared in the top position on the Flying 40, an annual list of the state's fastest-growing tech companies, wasn't on this year's list at all. "We struggled for many years dealing with the work-force issues in Santa Fe, and it got to a point where we couldn't find a...

Chicago aldermen are taking a break from whatever it is they usually do to save the city’s populace from a fate that’s apparently at least as bad as death. They’re fighting to keep Wal-Mart from defiling the toddlin’ town. Aiding them in this valiant struggle are labor unions. The president of the Chicago Federation of Labor outlined a terrifying scenario for the Chicago Sun-Times: "Once this first Wal-Mart comes, you’ll see two more pop up quick and, within a year, you'll probably see 10 of ‘em. This is Public Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of labor." What he should...

<p>By increasing its minimum wage from $6.75 to $8.50, San Francisco has implemented its latest attempt to legislate help for the poor through price controls. Unfortunately, minimum wages hurt the poor and other disfavored groups rather than helping them.</p> <p>Support for a higher minimum wage comes from the idea that the poor will gain because it will make low-skilled workers more willing to work and increase their earnings. However, while a higher minimum wage increases how much workers are willing to work, it reduces how many workers employers are willing to hire. With fewer job openings, the increased willingness to seek work becomes irrelevant, and there are fewer workers rather than more workers hired. And those who lose their jobs because of a higher minimum wage have their incomes decimated, which is an unusual way to help them. That was clearly illustrated long ago when a South African minimum-wage law portrayed as intended to help blacks led to widespread increases in black unemployment as employers hired whites instead at the same wage. It is also why the other Pacific Rim states, with the three highest minimum wages in the nation, are all among the five worst in unemployment rates.</p>

The News' Heidi Evans and daughter Alex Shopping for food is an art form when you are dealing with minimum wages. I've spent most of my 20 years in journalism writing about the struggles of the less fortunate. The notion that many hardworking people don't have an easy life in my city is hardly a huge revelation. But living on $206 a week - minimum wage for 40 hours of work - was a sobering and enlightening experience. I recommend it to Gov. Pataki, Joe Bruno, Sheldon Silver and every politician in the state as they consider their vote...

Last July, the Berkeley City Council voted to set the city's "living wage" at $10.76 per hour. For organizations holding large city contracts or leasing city-owned property, that figure becomes the minimum wage they must pay their employees. So is the Left rejoicing? Not at all. Because—guess what?—many leftist nonprofits have to pay that minimum wage, and they find it onerous. "The Berkeley Food and Housing Project, Berkeley's largest homeless services organization, estimates it would cost some $30,000 to bring their employees' salaries up to compliance—money the group doesn't have." Welcome to the real world. What did leftists suppose businesses...

Santa Fe Living Wage Put On Hold Judge Issues Temporary Injunction Against Increase POSTED: 7:17 PM MST December 18, 2003 SANTA FE, N.M. -- The living wage proposal for Santa Fe won't be taking effect in January, after all. Judge Daniel Sanchez Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against the controversial city ordinance. It would have raised the minimum wage in Santa Fe from $5.15 an hour to $8.50 an hour Jan. 1. The injunction delays the new ordinance only until the issue can be permanently resolved in a court. A group of business owners is suing the city to...

Council Delays Considering Suspension Of Wage Law Caught in a bind between providing higher wages for workers and supporting Berkeley’s numerous nonprofits, the City Council voted Tuesday night to push back considering a possible moratorium living wage ordinance until next month. On behalf of six of the city’s nonprofit agencies, the Commission on Early Childhood Education asked the council to issue a moratorium on the wage increase for the organizations at Tuesday’s meeting. The nonprofits are struggling under the weight of the recent increase, commissioners said. The city’s living wage law obligates employers who hold large city contracts or...

Give credit where credit is due. The political left is great with words. Conservatives have never been able to come up with such seductive phrases as the left mass produces. While conservatives may talk about a need for "judicial restraint," liberals cry out for "social justice." If someone asks you why they should be in favor of judicial restraint, you have got to sit them down and go into a long explanation about constitutional government and its implications and prerequisites. But "social justice"? No explanation needed. No definition. No facts. Everybody is for it. Do you want social injustice? The...

Many states have enacted higher minimum wage laws than are imposed by the federal government. The federal minimum is $5.15 per hour, whereas in Washington State it will soon be $7.16. A proposal in Madison, Wisconsin, would raise it to $7.75. "Living wage" legislation in 110 local governments imposes wages as high as $10. Senator Kennedy is supporting a bill that would boost it nationally to higher than $6. In Britain it is $7.20 per hour, while Venezuela and Russia set minimum wages by the month. Senator Kennedy says that these laws are essential to make sure that no working person...

When I asked Gary Newmark if I could talk to him about his job, his response was, "You want to know about regular working stiffs? You want to know what I do? I unloaded from a truck probably every book you ever read at Harvard. That's what I do." It was my first honest conversation with a campus service worker. There is a deliberate aura of wealth and power at Harvard, and it is tended to by more than a thousand workers. They dust the portraits, polish the oak panels, and prune the trees. They cook the food and guard...

The leading proponent of Arlington’s so-called “living wage” ordinance acknowledged last week that the controversial proposal would likely be challenged in court, while one of the leading critics of the ordinance said it probably would be struck down by the General Assembly long before a court battle was settled. County Board member Chris Zimmerman, who champions the living-wage ordinance, squared off against Arlington Chamber of Commerce president Richard Doud Jr. at a Sept. 9 forum before the League of Women Voters of Arlington. The County Board earlier this year adopted the living-wage ordinance, which has two parts. The less controversial...

SACRAMENTO &#8211; Most state workers and employees of certain companies that do business with the state would have to be paid a "living wage" of at least $10 an hour under legislation sent to Gov. Gray Davis yesterday. The measure by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Santa Clara, was given final approval by the Assembly on a 43-33 vote that accepted Senate amendments to the legislation. Under the bill, certain companies that sign state contracts of $50,000 or more would have to pay their employees at least $10 an hour if they also provided the workers with health insurance. For companies with...

Now that the supporting cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond" has settled its strike against CBS, we can all rest easy. The show will go on, the actors will each earn another $5 million-$7 million in profits over the next few years - on top of their salaries - and, thank heavens, the settlement came just before Labor Day. But now that that's settled, how are the rest of us doing? According to Beth Shulman, author of "The Betrayal of Work," a new book about low-wage workers in the United States, the answer is "not so hot." Coming after "Nickel and...

Orlando Enacts 'Living Wage' Law ORLANDO, Fla. -- The City Council approved a "living wage" law for city employees and contract workers Monday, but stopped short of bolstering the plan with health-care coverage and automatic increases tied to inflation. The new policy, passed by a 5-2 vote, requires an hourly wage of at least $8.50, which is $3.35 above the federally mandated minimum wage. At 40 hours a week, an employee would make $17,680, still about $720 shy of the federal poverty line for a family of four. Mayor Buddy Dyer, who said the wage is necessary to ``to...

Search Text: EPI homesearchpublicationsnews roomcalendarabout EPIcontact EPIweb featureslibraryjob postingssupport EPI WEB FEATURESdatazoneeconomic indicatorseconomic snapshotsonline calculatorsviewpoints ISSUE GUIDESliving wageminimum wagepoverty and family budgetsretirement securitysocial securityunemployment insurance Email This Page Printer Friendly Version Living wage ordinances have been enacted in over 70 localities. A living wage ordinance requires employers to pay wages that are above federal or state minimum wage levels. Only a specific set of workers are covered by living wage ordinances, usually those employed by businesses that have a contract with a city or county government or those who receive economic development subsidies from the locality. The rationale behind...

My corporation—I’m president and CEO of K-Bob’s Steakhouses, a 26-restaurant chain headquartered near Albuquerque—operates in four southwestern states and employs around 1,000 people. Recently, a new business I planned to open in Santa Fe became one the latest victims of the “living wage” campaign that is crippling firms and hurting local economies across the U.S. The campaign is the work of union-funded labor activists, whose success so far has been nearly 100 percent. Earlier this year, Santa Fe passed a law imposing an $8.50 minimum wage on all businesses in the city with 25 or more workers. The hike takes...

<p>U.S. cities and businesses have been coming up with a variety of ways to deal with homelessness – and advocates for the homeless apparently don't like any of them.</p> <p>Work for food, panhandler registration, homes at sea. ... Officials and business reps say these solutions help the homeless – and get them out of the public's way. But advocates for the homeless say these so-called "creative" solutions miss the point about homelessness: that it is an economic and political problem.</p>

ARLINGTON, Va., Saturday, June 28, 2003 --- The Arlington County Board today voted to institute for the first time a living wage policy for certain county contractors. Under the policy, companies that, through a competitive process, win contracts with an estimated annual value greater than $100,000 for services provided on County-owned or County-controlled property must pay its employees who are doing work for the County a required living wage. The policy goes into effect immediately for new contracts solicited and awarded after today. “By adopting the living wage policy, we will be able to obtain the highest quality services at...

Setting up what is sure to be a court showdown, County Board members on Saturday enacted a so-called “living wage” ordinance that would apply to the county government and most government contractors, establishing a minimum wage of nearly $11 per hour for workers covered by the provision. More than 30 speakers spent over an hour debating the merits of a living wage, with supporters calling it a long-overdue answer to rising rents and other cost-of-living expenses in the county, and detractors complaining it subverts state law and will lead to more unemployment. “This plan will ensure affordability in housing for...