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News :: Miscellaneous
Champaign County Living Wage Goes to $8.70 an Hour ($18,100 Annually)	Current rating: 0
by Mike Lehman (No verified email address)	21 Feb 2002 Modified: 11:00:57 PM
The new federal poverty guidelines were released last week. I missed reporting it in all the stress of working with all the great people and organizations that are working hard to make the Living Wage a success at the Champaign County Board. I'm happy to report that the 2002 Living Wage is (as predicted by historical, modest trends that are well documented) $8.70 an hour or $18,100 a year.
The new federal poverty guidelines were released last week. I missed reporting it in all the stress of working with all the great people and organizations that are working hard to make the Living Wage a success at the Champaign County Board. I'm happy to report that the 2002 Living Wage is (as predicted by historical, modest trends that are well documented) $8.70 an hour or $18,100 a year. See this website for details: <http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/02poverty.htm> This is yet another manifestation of the positive public policy that is embodied in the proposed Living Wage resolution that will be considered at the Champaign County Board meeting on Monday, February 25 at 7pm. The Living Wage is indexed to the federal poverty guidelines for a family of four. Although families differ in size, even an individual with no children would only be earning a very modest, but self-sustaining and self-responsible, living at the level of the local Living Wage. Families of four would be hard-pressed to sustain themselves at this level, yet even by having TWO wage-earners at the local Living Wage level, they would still be eligible (with two children) for limited government assistance in some cases. The argument then becomes, "Is it really high enough?" rather than Living Wage being too generous, as a few critics have charged. Can we really justify paying ANYONE less than this amount? But workers are not the only ones who benefit from a Living Wage. Those of such modest means spend their money in the community on the necessities of life. Every dollar paid to them is thus recirculated through the local economy as these workers deal with local businesses. What the Living Wage tries to do is strike a happy medium for those at the bottom of the wage scale in a society that emphasizes personal responsibility. In such a society, workers must earn enough to meet their needs. What the Living Wage does is give them the resources to do so. For a government unit to pay its own workers less than this amount is fiscal folly, if those same workers can then turn around and rightfully claim that their family qualifies for poverty assistance due to their low income. Give people the tools to meet their own needs and you will have less poverty and more responsibility. Give workers at least Living Wage.. Contact your Champaign County Board representatives to politely express your support for the Living Wage. Contact info: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/countybd/cbmembers.htm CCLWA Homepage:
See also: http://www.prairienet.org/livingwage/

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More on the Living Wage Situation
by Mike Lehman (No verified email address)	Current rating: 0 21 Feb 2002
The following was sent to members of the Champaign County Living Wage Association this morning. We would appreciate you making everyone you know aware of this effort and contacting your county board representatives to express your support. PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE WIDELY! Mark your calendar and plan to be there! The most important event yet in the local campaign to bring the Living Wage to Champaign County will be the County Board meeting this coming Monday, Feb. 25 at 7pm. The meeting will be held at the Brookens County Administration Center, 1776 East Washington St. in Urbana. Park and enter the building on the north side from the road the goes there off of Lierman Ave. And yes, the County board will be meeting this time on a MONDAY evening, for reasons having to do with the president's holiday. Those who saw Wednesday's News-Gazette know that the Living Wage needs your full support at this meeting in order to pass. Despite the bi-partisan support the Living Wage has received (several Republican members of the board have pledged to support the LW) some Democrats are concerned about where the money (about $93,000 a year) to raise all workers to the LW will come from. Board members NEED to see a large turnout in support for the Living Wage. The money can be found (there are several options), but we need to make clear that the public will support those who make the tough decision to prioritize paying a Living Wage. There WILL BE a vote on the Living Wage Monday. We are not sure at this time what form the vote will take. There may be an outright vote to pass or defeat the LW. There may be a vote to amend the current LW resolution that passed unanimously out of committee on Feb. 7. There may be a vote to delay consideration a month in an attempt to get the necessary support. In any case, THE PUBLIC NEEDS TO BE THERE SO THAT BOARD MEMBERS KNOW THAT THE LIVING WAGE HAS ENORMOUS PUBLIC SUPPORT! Another thing that as many people as possible need to do is CONTACT YOUR COUNTY BOARD REPRESENTATIVES! Here's a link that will give you contact info for all county board members: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/countybd/cbmembers.htm Contact your representatives irrespective of the party they belong to or their previously expressed opinions in favor or against the LW. Members who continue to strongly support the LW need to hear from the public; members of both Democratic and Republican parties support us; members from both parties may be wavering and need to be reminded politely that the public supports the Living Wage. Here are some important pieces of info to help you articulate your support: The News-Gazette ran a front-page story (Wed, Feb. 20) on the troubles that nursing homes are having ensuring adequate staffing nationwide and the negative impact this has had on the care of nursing home residents. Paying a Living Wage is one way to ensure that the labor market can supply enough workers. Continuing to pay less than Living Wage only makes the situation worse. Choosing to pay the LW means that the nursing home will have the quality of workers needed to ensure quality care. The Living Wage is NOT the minimum wage, but voters have shown strong support for raising the minimum wage to at least $8 an hour (the current Living Wage has just had its yearly adjustment--it is now $8.70 an hour, as was predicted.) Here's a link to the story: http://www.ucimc.org/front.php3?article_id=4108&group=webcast Gov. Ryan's State of the State of Illinois speech yesterday reflected the difficult times that the state budget is going through, but he still called for 20 to 25% increases in the pay of low paid state workers who assist those who have disabilities in the state. If this can be done at the state level in these hard times, our County Board can find $93,000 in a county budget that is more than $25 million. What do voters REALLY want? Robert Kuttner tells all in this important opinion piece: http://www.ucimc.org/front.php3?article_id=4139&group=webcast WE can still win this one, but we need an enormous show of public support to buck up the courage of some county board members to take the initiative to do the right thing in adopting the Living Wage. Contact your board representatives ASAP and show up Monday night at 7pm to show the public's support.