Episcopal bishops join in Los Angeles living-wage action during Episcopal Urban Caucus Assembly, February, 2002.

A ‘winnable issue’
by Ethan Flad

People of faith are among those participating in an emerging nationwide grassroots movement of living-wage campaigns. Most of the initiatives to date have focused on pressing large employers or local governments to raise the minimum wage by several dollars above the federal standard ($5.15 per hour) to a rate between $9 to $13 per hour. According to James Lawson, longtime civil rights activist and theologian, the living-wage movement comes out of a deep, healthy commitment to social justice. As Lawson declared during the 2002 Assembly of the Episcopal Urban Caucus held in Los Angeles earlier this year, "Racism will not be dismantled unless we dismantle the economics that systematize it."

Living-wage legislation has now been passed in more than 80 communities around the country. The first victory occurred in Baltimore, Md., in 1994. New laws passed in early 2002 in New Orleans, La., and Marin County, Calif., herald good tidings for campaigns in an additional 75 cities this year. [Visit www.livingwagecampaign.org for an updated listing.]

Santa Monica: SMART

Vivian Rothstein works with SMART (Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism). "We see a real synergy between the most progressive unions, which are working to organize the lowest wage workers, together with emerging Latino leadership and activist clergy," she reports. "We’ve all been on the defensive for so many years, and now we’re actually winning."

Santa Monica’s campaign dates back to the city’s prescient decision a quarter-century ago to center its economic development strategy on tourism. The tourist economy grew quickly in this coastal community of 90,000 residents, but legislation passed in the 1980s froze new hotel development. The handful of luxury hotels in the city benefited from this law and became among the most profitable in the state. Yet, as they charged upwards of $400 per night for a room, their workers didn’t make that in a week – and were paid some of the lowest wages statewide.

According to Rothstein, new union leadership in the mid-1990s faced a "last stand" when the only remaining union hotel tried to decertify its union. Using pressuring tactics that included the firing of a Salvadoran woman union leader, the hotel forced a vote over the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) – and won. In response, a community coalition created a "Truth Commission" and held a "safe election" at another place in which the union prevailed.

That fight energized the coalition to begin a living-wage campaign. But the hotel and its big-business allies were quick to detect the changing momentum. Sensing growing community support for living-wage legislation, they authored their own law. In November 2000, Proposition KK, which Rothstein calls the "Fake Living Wage Ordinance," was put to a vote in the city. "They took our name," complains Rothstein. "The proposition would have prevented any living-wage ordinance from EVER getting passed to regulate the hotels." However, hard work by living-wage organizers dealt a decisive defeat to Prop. KK – by a 79—21 percentage margin.

Just as importantly, in that same November 2000 election, the coalition had worked to elect a supportive city council, which passed a living-wage ordinance on July 24, 2001. The ordinance called for employers that make over $5 million per year to pay their employees $10.50 per hour (if health benefits were included, or $12.15 per hour, if not).

It didn’t take long for the wealthy business community to respond. "On July 25th the opposition hit the streets with a petition to suspend the new living-wage ordinance," reports Rothstein. "They spent $438,000 in just a few weeks!" The referendum was successful, placing the new living-wage ordinance in a state of limbo. The issue will come to a vote again this November.

Rothstein remains optimistic, and credits her church allies for being integral to the campaign through thick and thin.

"The Episcopal clergy – from the bishop [first Fred Borsch, and now Jon Bruno] on down – are angels. They have gotten arrested with us in civil disobedience. They have door-knocked with us. They’ve held press conferences."

With recent victories under their belt, she believes the living-wage coalition can win again.

San Francisco: ‘full-time working homeless’

Living-wage activist Barry Hermanson in San Francisco concurs with Rothstein’s assessment of the "winnability" of living-wage as an issue.

"I think every person understands the basic premise of a living wage, which is that every person who works full-time should be able to pay for the basic aspects of life: food, clothing, health care."

But, despite a politically liberal populace, the living-wage fight in his city has been difficult.

The campaign began in the late 1990s when labor and religious activists began reporting a significant increase in San Francisco’s homeless population. While many factors led to this rise, Hermanson notes that numerous stories were emerging of "full-time working homeless" – people who held down 40-hour-per-week jobs, yet still couldn’t make enough to pay rent in one of the nation’s most expensive regions. It wasn’t that big a surprise, he says, since the California Budget Project had issued a study called "Making Ends Meet" that showed it was impossible to live on the federal minimum wage anywhere in the state – even in the rural Central Valley. When a study by the Association of Bay Area Governments – which Hermanson calls "hardly a liberal think tank" – came out indicating it would cost $14.50 per hour for a single parent to live in San Francisco, the campaign took off.

Focusing on local jobs that were being funded through taxpayer money – via companies from whom the city was purchasing goods and services – they originally intended to shoot for $14.50 an hour, based on the study. Soon afterward the campaign dropped the figure down to a less intimidating $11 per hour if the employer provided benefits or $12 per hour if not.

"We were faced with a mayor [Willie Brown] and a board of supervisors [the city council] that were opposed to this legislation," says Hermanson. "But in less than two weeks we got 15—20,000 signatures to put this legislation up to a vote."

At that point, as in Santa Monica, the powers changed their tactics, and decided to negotiate. Mayor Brown met with the campaign and a compromise was struck – low-wage workers would be paid $9 per hour plus benefits, or $10 per hour without. Hermanson notes that this victory was just the beginning. "We came back with a health-care accountability ordinance the following year, and now we are going back to enact a citywide minimum wage."

Hermanson, who himself is the CEO of a temporary employment agency, faults fellow members of the business community for this debate.

"I believe that we have a certain number of employers who take advantage of the public subsidy system." They know that the government will have to cover the extra costs of people’s lives, he says. "If people had enough to provide for their basic needs – if they were paid enough to begin with – I probably wouldn’t have to spend so much time working on these issues."l

Ethan Flad is editor/producer of The Witness’ web site, including A Globe of Witnesses. Visit A Globe of Witnesses at www.thewitness.org/agw/ for a new article discussing what "living wage" really means, authored by Dick Gillett, an Episcopal priest involved with Los Angeles’ CLUE (Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice) coalition. Volunteers willing to work for the living-wage vote in Santa Monica November 1—5 should contact SMART at smart@laane.org or call 310-451-9703.