Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated leading a Living Wage Campaign in Memphis, Tennessee. In an address to strikers in Memphis on March 18, 1968, King stated, "Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know now that it isn't enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't have enough money to buy a hamburger?" The struggle for racial integration must be matched by a struggle for economic justice. Justice is not only about access to public places; it's also about jobs, good jobs.
Forty-two years after Dr. King's death, the struggle for racial and economic justice wages on amidst an economic crisis. After years of over-spending, derivative trading, subprime lending, and expensive wars, America's economy is ailing. Yet the rich continue to prosper, while the poor struggle to make ends meet. This economic struggle is particularly acute in New York City; New York City's unemployment rate is 9.1%; 1.8 million city residents receive food stamps and struggle to put bread on the table. Yet, there is light in the darkness.
On Thursday January 13, 2011 over 2,000 New Yorkers gathered for a Mass Meeting for Living Wages at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, pastored by Rev. Dr. Jessie T. Williams. Inspired by the Mass Meetings of the Civil Rights Movement, concerned New Yorkers came out in full strength to bear courageous, collective witness to the working poor in New York City.
City Comptroller John Liu, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and a host of city council members including Council Member G. Oliver Koppell, D-Bronx, who introduced the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, listened attentively to religious leaders who argued that paying New Yorkers a living wage is a moral issue that is affirmed by all faith traditions.
Michael A. Walrond, Senior Pastor of First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem preached from Exodus 3:7 which states, "The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.'" Pastor Walrond said, "While God saw and heard the suffering Israelites, God also looked at the slave drivers and the Pharaoh that they served." He connected the passage to the economic reality in New York, where New Yorkers are working slave labors, and God continues to watch the unjust decisions and policies of city leadership today. Walrond said, "We are fighting for a Living Wage in a City with a billionaire mayor. There is a level of insanity there." Looking straight at the City Council Members he said, "I do not want the leaders of this city to think that God's eyes are not on them. The eyes of God are looking at you."
Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid of The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem stood up at the end of the service and asked the City Council members to "stick with this fight till the end; get your undecided colleagues on board; and sign a letter to speaker Quinn to call for a hearing." Council Member Koppell made a public pledge to call for a hearing to pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, which will:
As we begin to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial weekend, let us remember and embody King's words to the city leaders in Memphis, "Now is the time to make an adequate income a reality for all God's children. Now is the time for City Hall to take a position for that which is just and honest." King was martyred in Memphis teaching us how to live. We will only find true happiness in the world when we live for something worth dying for. Prophetic advocacy and activism brings political form to the religious call to love our neighbor. Prophecy is the act of the whole people of God on behalf of the whole of the good creation.
On Thursday January 13, 2011, labor leaders, community leaders, and religious leaders stood together in New York City. On a wintry night in Harlem, the Spirit warmed the hearts and souls of those assembled. Now is the time to move out. Enough is enough. Our patience has run out. We want a hearing and passage of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act now. Now is the time!
Amy B. Dean: Tax Cuts Create Jobs? Prove It
1. It is immoral. It would encourage an entitlement culture. It rewards the good and productive worker at the same level of the bad and unproductive worker.
2. Paying a living wage would increase the costs of projects. This increased cost would make many projects less profitable and therefore result in a decrease in the number of projects. Would you risk $100,000 to earn a possible $1,000 profit?
3. In order make projects acceptably profitable, extra wage costs would have to be passed onto the consumers. This means higher prices for New Yorkers.
4. Higher prices translates to higher inflation which would lead to higher interest rates making mortgages and other debt more expensive thereby punishing those that need debt the most (low income families).
5. As mentioned above and counter to martman1's (2:55) comment, higher costs would decrease capital investment which is not good for the economy. Increased consumption by the beneficiaries of a living wage would leave them with no money and a house full of junk.
6. With fewer profitable projects available...fewer workers are needed to complete projects leading to higher unemployment.
7. Money would flow out of New York to cheaper areas of the USA.
8. Slavery is an emotional argument which would be unnecessary if a logical and factual one existed.
This would have the opposite effect intended by proponents of a 'living wage'.
Immorality of the entitlement culture: People lose their sense of value. Pay is no longer earned, it is distributed according to need. It is charity. People lose their sense of self worth.
I am not defending poverty. My argument is that a living wage would keep people in poverty and possibly increase poverty.
Alternatives: A minimum wage in order to prevent exploitation of desperate people. Similar to 'living wage' but also different. It would have to be low...let's say $5 an hour. This would prevent blatant exploitation without pricing the workers out of the market. It would be less of a moral hazard as well.
Subsidized training and education would be acceptable (at least, difficult to object to). This would give people real skills, self worth and qualify people for higher paid work.
Basically my thoughts are if you can't earn enough to live doing what you are doing...then go do something else.
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