Monday, November 20, 2006

Social Program with a Future: Big win for L. A. working poor. . .

David Shipler's The Working Poor: Invisible in America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf 2004) provides incredible insight into the lives of low-income working people in the United States today. Shipler's book and his research are the most important on the subject in the past 40 years. Central Dallas Ministries enjoyed having him as our guest speaker at our annual Urban Ministries Prayer Event two years ago.

Listen to Shipler's jarring testimony:

"Most of the people I write about in this book do not have the luxury of rage. They are caught in exhausting struggles. Their wages do not lift them far enough from poverty to improve their lives, and their lives, in turn hold them back. The term by which they are usually described, 'working poor,' should be an oxymoron. Nobody who works hard should be poor in America (p. ix).

"Workers at the edge of poverty are essential to America's prosperity, but their well-being is not treated as an integral part of the whole. Instead, the forgotten wage a daily struggle to keep themselves from falling over the cliff. It is time to be ashamed" (p. 300).

Shipler would be proud of the Los Angeles City Council.

The legislative body approved a living wage ordinance for the 3,500 hotel workers employed in the Gateway Improvement District near L. A. International Airport. Eleven of the 14- member City Council voted recently to extend the city's 1997 living wage law to 3,500 workers in the LAX hospitality industry.

The groundbreaking vote makes Los Angeles the largest city in the country to require employers that don't do business directly with the city to pay their workers a living wage.

This extension of the living wage ordinance will affect 13 hotels on Century Boulevard. The law will increase wages for workers to $9.39 per hour with health benefits and $10.64 per hour without health benefits.

In addition, the council passed a worker retention ordinance that insures hotel employees will be able to keep their jobs 90 days after a hotel changes ownership. City lawmakers also enacted rules requiring hotels to give service charges imposed on banquet guests to servers.

The Los Angeles Times reported that current average earnings for Century Boulevard hotel workers is 20% lower than those in downtown hotels and 22 percent lower than in East San Fernando Valley and Burbank hotels. Low wages at Century Boulevard hotels contribute to poverty in the nearby communities of Lennox, Inglewood and Hawthorne, where a large number of these workers live.

Local news media report that in the last two years occupancy rates at Century Boulevard hotels has increased 16 percent -- the highest in L.A. County. The hotels are doing very well.

"Today's historic vote is a win-win for everyone," said Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "The living wage for the hotel workers is a matter of social justice, as well as a matter of good business sense. Treating workers fairly and improving working conditions will benefit hotels and drive economic activity along Century Boulevard. Today's vote will help all boats rise together."

I agree with the Councilman. And, I applaud the hard work of Council member Janice Hahn, one of the driving forces behind the new regulations.

I'm not sure who it was who first said it, but I agree completely with the familiar line, "The very best program of social uplift possible is a job that pays a living wage!"

Like I said, David Shipler should be very pleased.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite a contrast, Larry, in your two recent posts about city council actions. In one, the city council in Farmers Branch spends their precious time to make decisions that actually hurt tax-paying residents in their city. In Los Angeles, attentive city council members ask this simple quesion: "should the working really be poor?" and then take action to help make it easier for the working to not be poor.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I hope that other city councils in many cities will take actions similar to that taken in Los Angeles.

Randy Mayeux
Dallas, Texas

Anonymous said...

Why do I feel like deja vu is about to hit? It seems like maybe this argument was discussed once before... maybe... but probably only once... I'm sure it hasn't been a recurring argument...

Anonymous said...

Justin, sometimes government steps in to insure that the powerful are not unduly taking advantage of the powerless, in this case labor! This is not charity. This is a clear example of equity in view of escalating profits. The reason why the gap continues to grow between rich and poor is that no one is minding the store any more in America! If the economy was "hauling" in Florida, why did citizens via govt have to step in? Fairness, equity, justice!

Bravo to the LA City Council!

Anonymous said...

Agreed with previous anonymous:

I am big business and I am making good profits. If I can continue to make more and more profits without giving my workers payraiser, tell me why am I going to give it to them. Capitalism may be the best system we have, but it doesn't work for everybody.

Sure, my high up employees get raises, because they're like me and I want to keep them employed. But who cares about the bottom wrong. I don't know them, and I just don't give a crap about their lives, as long as mine is good.

Justin, tell me how you know all these things about what the economy will and will not do. Are you an economist? What is your degree in?

Anonymous said...

One doesn't have to be an economist to understand the effects of increasing the minimum wage for small businesses. In order to maintain their profit margin they will have to decrease employees or increase the cost of their product - both of which is bad for the economy.

Also, an increase in the minimum wage, while noble in spirit, does little more than increase the rate of inflation. If more money is out there, the price of products increases to match the supply.

"Treating workers fairly and improving working conditions will benefit hotels and drive economic activity along Century Boulevard." - Original Post

While I don't doubt the core truth of this statement, if it were absolutely true, hotels would have done this on their own long ago.

"Sure, my high up employees get raises, because they're like me and I want to keep them employed. But who cares about the bottom wrong. I don't know them, and I just don't give a crap about their lives, as long as mine is good." - Anonymous

So by increasing wages you're ensuring that big bad business man will start caring about his employees? If anything it will make him disdain them more.

Anonymous said...

One doesn't have to be an economist to understand the effects of increasing the minimum wage for small businesses. In order to maintain their profit margin they will have to decrease employees or increase the cost of their product - both of which is bad for the economy.

Also, an increase in the minimum wage, while noble in spirit, does little more than increase the rate of inflation. If more money is out there, the price of products increases to match the supply.

"Treating workers fairly and improving working conditions will benefit hotels and drive economic activity along Century Boulevard." - Original Post

While I don't doubt the core truth of this statement, if it were absolutely true, hotels would have done this on their own long ago.

"Sure, my high up employees get raises, because they're like me and I want to keep them employed. But who cares about the bottom wrong. I don't know them, and I just don't give a crap about their lives, as long as mine is good." - Anonymous

So by increasing wages you're ensuring that big bad business man will start caring about his employees? If anything it will make him disdain them more.

Anonymous said...

The reason I bring up the economist point is because I've seen you (Justin) ridicule people on here for having a different point of view and no economics degree. If you're going to challenge other people's credentials, I simply want to know what yours are...

And yes, people on here have been addressing your arguments on here for months, but you always seem to disappear from the conversation when you run out of steam.

I think people assume the effect of raising the minimum wage has more of an effect than it really does. What percentage of costs does a company spend on labor? And on that labor, how much would a small percentage change affect the costs. We're talking a percentage of a percentage -- which is not that big of a number.

And all of that extra money given to those people in poverty has a multiplier effect on the economy, because poor people spend it immediately on their living expenses. The money goes right back into the economy, negating most, if any, loss. So, no negative effect, but a positive effect for those who have little food, healthcare, or shelter. That's economics!

Todd, it would be nice if bosses cared about their employees, and you're right, forcing them to pay won't make them feel any better, but at least those employees can have something to actually live on.

Anonymous said...

Then why did Bush push through tax cuts? Is he an idiot? Everyone knows money stimulates the economy...