Let Justice Roll

What's a living wage
By Emily Sims
Weatherford Daily News (OK), 10/16/07

What is a living wage? How much money do workers need to survive and where will the funding come from to support wage increases?

Different facets from Weatherford’s business community gathered to discuss these key points during a forum Sunday evening hosted by the Federated Church.

A six-person panel discussed their viewpoints about minimum wage, poverty and the cost of living during an organized discussion session.

Some, such as Trish Garcia, the president of the Weatherford Educational Support Personnel of Oklahoma, spoke from experience about workers who struggle to make ends meet. Others, such as small business owner Rick Dahlgren, asked where the money would come to support higher wages.

Rev. Linda Sherry, pastor of the Federated Church, said their goal was to examine the situation in the light of faith.

"Some may wonder why we would want to stir up a hornets nest with an issue like this one," Sherry said. "But as Christians we are called to examine the issues we face today and figure out how to resolve these issues through our faith."

Karen Spradlin, a social worker for New Hope, a non-profit organization that provides services to children and families who have been incarcerated, is the Oklahoma Coordinator of Let Justice Roll, a national campaign committed to educating about fair wages.

A living wage is defined as that which a full-time, full year, employee would need to earn to support a family of four at 130 percent of the poverty line, without government assistance.

Spradlin said the Oklahoma Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church’s goal is to work towards providing a living wage, at least $20,000, for all church employees and to incur federal legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to more than $7.25.

Rev. Jeremy Bassett said the current situation demands the public’s attention. He said the typical chief executive officer makes about 431 times the lowest worker in the company’s wages which is why people should not stand back and let the economists and politicians dominate the debate.

"The majority of people are falling into poverty while the minority are falling into upper wealth," Bassett said. "The middle class is declining, which is scary. The definition of a third world country is the absence of a sustainable middle class and we are quickly heading in that direction."

Kenneth Kickham, assistant professor of political science at the University of Central Oklahoma, talked about the costs of living in Oklahoma. Before Kickham became a teacher, he was a senior researchers at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services where he conducted extensive research regarding working poor and a living wage.

Kickham said the median wage in Oklahoma is significantly lower, $12 lower as of 2005, than the national level.

He showed a graft indicating while the profits in Oklahoma are going up and productivity among workers is increasing, the median wage in Oklahoma has decreased 3.2 percent 2003-04.

According to Kickham’s statistics, the poverty wage for one adult, one child family is 6.58; the poverty wage for a two adult, one child family is $5.43 and $6.53 for two adults, one child. The living wage is determined to be $9.92 for one adult; $15.50 for one adult, one child; $11.67 for two adults, one child; and $15.04 for two adults, two children.

"However, despite these figures, the minimum hourly raise remains the same consistent $5.85 across the board," Kickham said.

Garcia’s main focus is obtaining higher wages for school support staff. Garcia and other members of WESPO have been in pay scale negotiations with Superintendent Bill Seitter since May.

"The state legislature sets the state minimum pay scale for certified workers and this is not so for support personnel," she said. "These people love their jobs and they enjoy what they do. However, there is a struggle involved when it comes to making ends meet on their salaries."

Garcia said the start out pay for a zero level cook is $7,866 a year and after 20 years the pay goes up to $9,996; zero level paraprofessionals and library aids makes 9,397 per year with a pay raise of $12,028 per year; custodians start out making $17,000 and after 20 years their salary is raised to $21,800; secretaries start out at $10,808 and can make as much as $15,903.

Some argue school workers only work 10 months out of the year; however, Garcia said, dividing up the time still results in less than deserved wages. Many, such as custodians, work 12 months out of the year, she said.

"Trying to live on a salary like this is very difficult," she said. "Everything increases around us but there is no increase in pay. They love their jobs and they are committed to their jobs and it would go a long way to negotiate higher wages for them. We are working closely with the Superintendent to get a wage increase and we are remaining positive about it."

On the other end of the spectrum, Dahlgren, owner of The Cup, talked about what the increase in minimum wage has done to small businesses.

Dahlgren said in a business with 10 employees, the recent 60 cent increase to $5.85 would cost the employer $14,000 a year. With the addition of social security and workers compensation, which is based on the worker’s salary an additional $15,730 a year.

"It is definitely a myth that all business owners are rich," he said. "Do not misunderstand me, I am not against higher wages and I think everyone deserves higher wages. But my question is, where will that money come from? When wages go up nationwide, the prices of the products I sell must go up. Where does it stop? How much is the general public willing to pay? How far can you increase the prices and still keep the business going?"

Dahlgren said businesses could be forced to hire fewer people, give their employees fewer hours or, if the rates continue to increase, simply go out of business.

"In the end, that will leave people without needed jobs," Dahlgren said. "There is a fine line between prices, sustaining the business and paying people. These are all factors we must take into consideration."

Les Crall, department chair for the Southwestern Oklahoma State University general business department, said he is concerned the increase in wages will result in overall inflation.

"While poverty is an issue we should be concerned about, there are pros and cons about offering living wages," he said. "The higher costs of salaries could force employers to cut more jobs, living wage ordinances would increase the cost of city contracts and we would have enforcement issues. Our tax payer’s dollars should not be used to subsidize poverty-level jobs."

Crall said other states have thought about enforcing living wage ordinances.

"Omaha passed a living wage law and later repealed it because they couldn’t meet the budget," Crall said. "It’s inflationary. All people think they should be paid more and, given perfect circumstances, I agree. However, if everyone makes more money, the cost of everything will increase and does that really solve any problems?"