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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Urbana to Consider Living Wage Resolution |
Current rating: 0 |
by Mike Lehman, Coordinator, CCLWA
(No verified email address) |
21 Mar 2002
Modified: 22 Mar 2002 |
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Urbana's City Council will begin consideration of adoption of Living Wage policy at it's meeting Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm. |
On Monday, March 25, a Living Wage resolution will be introduced for discussion at the Urbana City Council's committee of the whole meeting. The meeting starts at 7:30pm at the Urbana City Building with public participation. We have volunteers to speak about the Living Wage then, but we would like to have a large turnout of supporters. We invite your attendance Monday in support of a Living Wage in Urbana.
After passing out of the committee of the whole, the final vote could be as soon as the April 1 Urbana City Council meeting, although it could be later. We will keep you posted on developments.
If Urbana adopts a Living Wage policy, it will be the fourth unit of government in Champaign County to do so. In general, Urbana already meets the requirement to pay all its full-time workers at least a Living Wage, but its approval of this policy will see Urbana making a specific commitment to continue doing so and to refrain from the temptation to contract-out work (currently done by city employees) at less than Living Wage in the future.
An important new study just released indicates that Living Wage policies do have a positive effect for workers covered by such policies.
http://www.ppic.org/publications/PPIC156/ppic156.abstract.html
The Public Policy Institute of California studied the effects of the Living Wage in some 40 localities where it has been adopted. Although there was some limited job loss, the overall effect of Living Wage policies shows that they do raise the incomes of the working poor. This is consistent with the arguments made locally that the jobs done by these workers are so essential that job loss among these workers is usually not an option if vital public services are to continue. Another factor is that the wider the application of the Living Wage policy, the more the benefit to the community in raising overall incomes among low-wage workers.
Today's News-Gazette has an article about developments in Urbana; it is already on their website. It mentions the national movement for a Living Wage, but neglects to mention that Living Wage policies have already been adopted by three other Champaign County units of government: the C-U Public Health District; the Champaign County Housing Authority; and Champaign County itself. Here's a link to the article on their website: |
See also:
http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=11258
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Some Comments on News-Gazette Article |
by Mike Lehman
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2002
Modified: 05:24:03 PM |
I want to provide some further information that seems distorted or left out of the News-Gazette article that appeared in today's paper and is available at the link above.
The date when the Living Wage policy may take effect, if Urbana's resolution follows the Champaign County resolution language, would be when the existing contract is up and would be the floor for any new contract. At the county, the new contract with their workers begins Dec. 1. The county resolution applies the Living Wage rate, which is announced based on federal government data released every February, beginning in the following December. Thus, there is some lag built in. Urbana's contracts probably differ in their expiration dates from the county's, so the date of applicability will likely differ.
The current Living Wage is $8.70 an hour, which will be paid as of Dec. 1 to county workers. The "$8.49 an hour this year" that the News-Gazette quotes is based on last year's figure (which, if it was already in a contract, would be what would be paid until Dec. 1 this year.) This does allow for budgeting to adjust accordingly when the data is updated. A 5-year history of the Living Wage level shows that it has averaged just less than 20 cents an hour per year, making the increases fairly easy to plan for in making a budget. We would encourage a smaller lag in Urbana than was the case at the county, if possible.
The News-Gazette article mentions the "Employment Policies Institute" as a reference for information about the Living Wage. It is an "astroturf" website that opposes both the Living Wage movement and minimum wages in general. Caveat emptor when consulting them about the Living Wage, but given the News-Gazette's strident editorial against the county Living Wage resolution in February, it should be no surprise what sort of information the News-Gazette editorial board has been consulting to form such opinions.
It is also fair to note here that 5 Republicans voted for the county resolution, along with 13 Democrats, so the Living Wage is a concept that has bi-partisan support in our community. I understand from today's N-G article that Mr. Whelan seems to oppose the Living Wage currently, but this must be his personal opinion and doesn't represent the opinions of Republicans in general, many of whom have conscientiously supported the Living Wage. The Living Wage campaign knows that we have wide support among Democrats, also.
I would suggest these websites for more comprehensive and balanced information on the Living Wage:
http://www.epinet.org/
http://www.stw.org/press/2000/living_wage_report_pr.html
http://www.nicwj.org/pages/issues.LWC.html
http://www.livingwagecampaign.org/
The Champaign County Living Wage Association's webpage has been down recently, but it should be restored shortly, with updated info coming soon. The CCLWA is a coalition of more than 40 community, labor, and religious groups in Champaign County who support the idea that public money should go to paying at least a Living Wage to those employed with such funds. |
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Temporary Living Wage Link |
by Mike Lehman
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Mar 2002
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Prairienet is reconfiguring their server to bring the Champaign County Living Wage Association homepage back to life. Until then, you may access the Living Wage homepage at this temporary link:
http://www.prairienet.org/~xx782/
Here is the permanent link to the local Living Wage campaign:
http://www.prairienet.org/livingwage |
