Public Employee Press

DC 37 backs drive for living wage

Gospel singer Vashawn Mitchell rocked the Convent Avenue Baptist Church Jan. 13 with the hymn "Nobody Greater" as over 1,000 participants filed into the pews and filled the aisles to overflowing to support a living-wage law for New York City.

Her music instilled an infectious spirit of camaraderie among the religious leaders, unionists, working poor New Yorkers, youth activists, living-wage campaign stalwarts and politicians at the mass meeting, which the Rev. Jesse T. Williams chaired.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and a host of pastors, politicians and representative workers addressed the great gathering. "To the Rev. Dr. Williams and the brothers and sisters, it really fills my heart to know that you all care," she said. "I have been fighting for 50 years and the labor movement is my religion. We need a living wage because we all need something to stand on. We really are at a crossroads."

The Fair Wages for New Yorkers bill before the City Council would require employers who get taxpayer-funded subsidies to pay at least $10 per hour plus benefits or $11.50 without. Often, the jobs created at shopping centers, office buildings and stadiums built with public tax subsidies pay poverty wages with no benefits.

Pittsburgh and Los Angeles have already enacted living-wage laws, creating good jobs for low-income communities without slowing economic growth.

"If developers and the rich benefit from our tax dollars, said Williams, "they should pay a wage that lets people live with dignity and feed their families."

The Jan. 13 rally - two days before the birthday of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - linked the living-wage campaign with his 1968 battle for fair treatment and pay for the sanitation workers of AFSCME Local 1733 in Memphis, Tenn.

City Comptroller John Liu said he was humbled to stand before the group. "In New York City, we have a 9.1 percent rate of unemployment," he said, "and even more devastating, the unemployment rate in communities of color is three times as high."

Linda Archer of the Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition spoke of her life as a low-paid fast-food worker: "Our store in Times Square is a place where tourists come, and our work is important to the New York economy. The store brought in $2 million this holiday season. I make $7.25 an hour - with no medical benefits or sick leave. I cannot afford to live on my own on the wages I earn. I want to say to the politicians, 'Pass this bill!' "