City Council Asked To Support ‘Living Wage’ Activists Point Out Plight Of Spokane’s Impoverished

A group of Spokane activists devoted to fighting injustice in other countries is turning its focus on a need far closer to home - and asking the City Council to help.

The plight of the city’s most impoverished residents can’t improve until businesses pay their employees a “living wage,” members of the Peace and Justice Action League told the council on Monday.

The group defines a living wage as $8.25 an hour. Members hope the council pushes to increase the current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour to $7 in July, bumping that to the higher figure next January.

“Many of our neighbors are now virtually Third World people,” said Rusty Nelson, the group’s director. “A livable wage is the key for Spokane to break out of this spiral into a third-world economy … “We are asking for this wage in the belief that people who work should not be locked in poverty.”

Almost half the workers in the booming service industry - Spokane’s largest employer - earn less than $14,000 a year.

While the city likely can’t legislate a minimum wage, it could encourage businesses by adopting a resolution that calls for a higher minimum wage, Nelson said.

City leaders also could set the standard by only contracting with businesses that pay $8.25 an hour, he said. For example, the city of Portland won’t use companies that pay employees less than $7 an hour.

Attorney Jim Sloane said he hadn’t researched whether Spokane could pass a similar ordinance.

Pastor Rich Lang of Central United Methodist Church couldn’t attend Monday’s meeting but sent a letter, which was read by a member of PJAL.

“For you on the council to affirm the living wage campaign would be a step of enormous courage. Obviously, it is not a business-friendly initiative,” Lang said. “But it will birth hope and it will build up the community.”

Sara Miller, a part-time instructor at North Idaho College, said she knows the cycle of poverty firsthand. Even with a master’s degree, she can’t get a full-time job that pays enough to support her family.

“Without this, parents don’t have a liveable wage; they can’t make ends meet,” Miller said. “That takes away from parenting. It takes away from community.”

But Jay Boughter, who works three part-time jobs at $6.75 an hour or less, thinks increasing the minimum wage could backfire. He says it would cause a spiral of higher wages that ultimately hurts the taxpayer because the city has to pay more when they contract with higher-paying businesses.

Matt Hawkins is vice president of Omni Management, which owns 12 Taco Times in Spokane. While he didn’t attend Monday’s meeting, he is familiar with the proposal, he said.

“Oh, man, that would hurt,” Hawkins said of the suggested increase in an interview Monday. “There’s a trickle effect. Suddenly, everybody’s worth more.”

Such a wage hike would lead to higher prices, which hurt the consumer, he said.

PJAL members argue that higher wages would cause increased spending, which would lead businesses to produce more - not raise prices.

Council members didn’t comment on the report from PJAL. Mayor John Talbott said they would study the issue.

Councilman Orville Barnes had little hope for the measure. “I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere,” he said.

Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers had a different idea, saying she planned to push the council to support the proposal.

, DataTimes