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NICKEL AND DIMED
ABOUT LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGNS.
In
1994, the city of Baltimore, Maryland, passed the nation's first modern-day
living wage law, requiring contractors doing
business with the City to pay their workers at least $6.10 an hour.
Since then, grassroots living wage campaigns
have emerged all over the country. More than 40 cities and counties now
require companies doing business with them to pay
their workers at least a living wage.
Each year, the
federal government calculates the minimum amount of money required by families
to meet basic food, shelter, clothing,
health care, transportation needs. The resulting calculation is what is
commonly referred to as the "poverty
line." Many living wage campaigns have defined the living wage
as equivalent to the poverty line for a
family of four, which is currently $8.20 an hour, although the living wage
laws that have passed range from $6.10 to $12.00 an hour.
Furthermore, living
wage campaigns are increasingly demanding that businesses offer benefits in
addition to a wage requirement, such as
health care, vacation days, community hiring goals, public disclosure, community
advisory boards, environmental standards, and language that supports union
organizing. Organizations that promote
living wage campaigns claim that paying employees a living wage has the
potential to reduce employee turnover and
absenteeism, increase productivity, morale, and commitment within
the company. Lower turnover and absenteeism saves businesses money and
improves the quality of their
services. Employers who voluntarily pay their employees a living wage
are likely to retain more business.
Though the money saved by paying employees a living
wage tends not to cover the full cost of the
wage increases, proponents of a living wage insist that the combined benefits
outweigh the cost of the wage
increase. When workers are paid enough to support their families, they
no longer need to rely on public assistance
in the form of housing subsidies, medical assistance, food stamps, and
welfare. In effect, taxpayers subsidize
employers who don't pay living wages.
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