Proposal for living wage on Aug. 8 city ballot

By Joseph Kenny
Review Staff Writer

A living wage proposal that will go before voters in St. Louis City Tuesday, Aug. 8, would require businesses benefiting from large city contracts or economic development subsidies to pay their workers at least $8.84 an hour plus health benefits.

The living wage law would apply to anyone receiving tax breaks from the city of at least $100,000 or having city contracts of at least $50,000.

The proposal is supported by a coalition of community, labor and religious groups, but lacks the backing of two archdiocesan organizations that favor the concept of a living wage but not the city’s referendum.

The archdiocesan Human Rights Office had supported a living wage proposal defeated by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in March. But the office and its commission did not take a stand on the referendum because its abbreviated language left out safeguards that were in the initial bill.

Catholic Charities researched the current referendum, but declined to add its support. Neither Catholic Charities nor the Human Rights Office are actively opposing the measure.

“A living wage is a good thing - the basic principle,” said Sister Mary Lou Stubbs, DC, vice president of mission for Catholic Charities. “However, for the referendum written for the City of St. Louis we did an analysis of it and what it will do to people who are struggling in poverty. We came to the conclusion that it will hurt rather than help poor families.”

Catholic Charities wants to see both St. Louis City and St. Louis County in a proposal. “It would be extremely easy for businesses, particularly small businesses that are tenuous as far as wanting to be in the city anyway, to move over the county line. We already have a huge hole in the number of small businesses here,” Sister Stubbs said.

The referendum, unlike the proposal before the aldermen, does not exempt nonprofit agencies serving people in poverty. “That would reduce the number of individuals served or programs available” to the needy, she noted.

Among the supporters of the measure is Churches Committed to Community Concerns (C-4). Father Stephen Joyce, pastor of Ascension/St. Paul Parish in Normandy, said many working families have such a low income that they come to food pantries for help with groceries and utility bills.

The referendum “benefits the community. I believe when people are paid a decent wage they produce more. There will be less demand on social service agencies and programs for assistance,” he said.

Father Joyce said he believed that nonprofits would be exempt under the referendum.

The living wage is defined as enough to keep a family of three off food stamps. The wage is set at $1.39 an hour more for companies that do not provide health insurance benefits. The federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, or $10,700 a year.

According to supporters of the referendum, experience in the 46 other cities with living wage ordinances shows that there are no ill effects on businesses or the local economy.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, using Census Bureau data from 1995-97, in Missouri there are 67,000 poor families with children in which one or more parents worked. The working poor make up 79 percent of all poor families in the state.

A majority - 73 percent - of the poor families in Missouri that received welfare benefits in a given year also had a parent who worked. In all, one out of 10 working families in Missouri are poor, according to the center.

Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco made a statement on the issue last year. He endorsed the concept but also cited the need to give consideration to the impact on small organizations and those with special circumstances.

“Poverty-level wages create a situation in which individual respect and human dignity are diminished,” Archbishop Levada said. “Indeed, the health of the community as a whole suffers when there is no concern for the working poor.”

Amy Blouin, director of advocacy for Catholic Charities, said the agency is putting its focus on passage of an earned income tax credit in the state legislature. Catholic Charities officials believe that measure is broader in reach because it applies to workers in the whole state, she said.

The bill that was supported by the Human Rights Office had stated that the living wage did not apply to companies with fewer than five employees, firms with union contracts specifying a lower wage for part-time workers or to nonprofits receiving grants. The Aug. 8 ballot measure includes none of those exemptions. A spokesperson for ACORN, one of the lead supporters of the referendum, said such adjustments can be made by the Board of Aldermen later when it passes administrative rules connected to the referendum.

Responsible Wealth, a group which calls itself a network of business leaders, professionals and other affluent Americans, recently released a report praising living wage campaigns as good for business as well as workers and communities.

The report cited research showing lower worker turnover and absenteeism, reduced training costs, higher morale and productivity and a stronger consumer market from higher living wages.