The living
wage is back. In a divisive 4-3 vote, the City Council on Tuesday agreed
an $11.50 base wage for local government workers was a moral imperative,
and the important first step in an incremental effort to raise the minimum
wage throughout Santa Monica.
The vote
came after a handful of community activists spoke out in favor of the
increased wage, which City Hall leaders warned would be too costly.
It also came nearly two years after a living wage that included private
merchants was tossed out by voters.
Staffers
will draw up a new ordinance for the council to formally vote on at
an upcoming meeting.
"As
a community, we've gone a long way to try and not commodify everything
in society," said City Councilman Mike Feinstein, pointing to various
city-sponsored social services, and initiatives like rent control. "I
think we also have to look at labor and not try to simply commodify
people, in the following sense - if somebody is playing by the rules
in our society and is working 40 hours a week, whatever job they are
doing, it is part of an interconnected greater whole of a series of
jobs, a series of occupations, that altogether make for a healthy society.
"And
to say that for some of the people in our society, who are playing by
the rules, who are working 40 hours a week and can't make it on that
income … even though they're participating as part of the greater
whole, I think that we deny some- thing of our common humanity by com-
modifying their work, and saying those types of jobs really aren't worth
it."
Feinstein
was joined by Mayor Richard Bloom, and City Councilmen Ken Genser and
Kevin McKeown in backing the higher minimum wage. Opposing the increase
were City Councilwoman Pam O 'Connor and City Councilmen Bob Holbrook
and Herb Katz.
"The
public repealed the city's living wage ordinance less than two years
ago," Holbrook said. "I 'm just frustrated, 'cause I don't
know what the public does. If they disagree with us, do they go out
then and do another repeal campaign, city-wide? And then, a year from
now, do another one? Or do they just change the council? I don't know
what they ought to do ..."
O 'Connor
indicated she was willing to raise the bottom wage, but said she would
like to look at different levels. Katz echoed Holbrook, adding the proposed
living wage was flawed because it didn't cover the whole community,
and therefore handicaps City Hall.
"We're
going to go through it again," Katz said Wednesday. "It's
discriminatory, it 's costly and, as far as I 'm concerned, not a valid
approach."
The $11.50
base wage would apply to all City Hall workers, except some in intern
and training positions. It also would extend to contractors with government
jobs in excess of $50,000.Funding sources still need to be identified
for the increased wage, though the council did earmark $300,000 of the
2004-2005 budg1et that staffers had recommended be used for worker benefits.
How much
the proposal will cost City Hall is unclear. Estimates range from near
$300,000 to more than $1 million, largely depending on how much the
contractor mandate will cost City Hall. While a City Hall survey of
contractors suggested that portion of the increase would cost $750,000
to $1 million alone, some cite a report from the Brennan Center for
Justice at the New York University of Law and argue contractors will
swallow much of the increased cost to stay competitive.
Members
of the business community on Wednesday said they were very concerned
about the action and hopeful it still can be defeated.
"There
's so many other things that the city should really focus on,"
said Seth Jacobsen, a spokesmen for the group that narrowly defeated
the 2002 living wage. "Police, fire, schools - that's where the
money should be going, not to the living wage. Not at this time.
"There
's a really strong, deep-seeded concern among the business community
that (a city-wide living wage is)the next step and that this is a slippery
slope towards that."
A handful
of speakers addressed the matter at the council meeting, all supporting
the higher base wage. Among them were Lauralee Asch, a City Hall union
leader, Vivian Rothstein, a union organizer with deep ties in the community,
and Rev. Sandie Richards.
"My
church, Church in Ocean Park, has been an organization of conscience
in this struggle," Richards told the council,, before it began
deliberations. "We don't materially benefit directly from a living
wage ordinance in obvious ways. But we feel that we do materially benefit
when our brothers and sisters who work hard are given a living wage."
Four council
members ultimately agreed, and reiterated their commitment to raising
wages.
"I
think the reality is, we take this step as an incremental step, it is
a direction we move in," Bloom said. "The idea that we move
forward on social issues frequently - on an incremental basis, step
by step to reach an ultimate goal - is one that's well engrained in
this country and in this community. We will set an example to other
communities by doing this."
