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Green Party Begins Living Wage Ballot Initiative Campaign
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Opinion
At its January meeting, the Coordinating Committee of the Green Party of
Ohio
committed to working on a campaign to enact a Living Wage ordinance in the
City of Columbus. A living wage ordinance would require employers who
receive
city funds to pay their employees more than minimum wage, a wage that would
more accurately reflect living costs and generally be tied to a percentage
of
the poverty line for a family of four.
Members of The Green Party are alarmed by the growing economic inequality in
our community and society. The minimum wage, currently $5.15/hour, has not
been raised for over four years and falls far short of the $8.20/hour
required to raise a family of four to the poverty line. A Living Wage
ordinance makes an important statement about our values as a community and
takes the first step towards employees being fairly compensated to meet
their
basic economic needs.
Marilyn Welker, a member of the Central Ohio Green Party Coordinating
Committee, will act as a spokesperson for this effort. "The Living Wage
campaign is an opportunity for citizens in Columbus to create a stronger
social fabric. When public dollars serve the common good and when people can
adequately support their families, we are all winners."
Currently 60 communities, counties and governmental entities have passed a
living wage ordinance, including the cities of Toledo and Cleveland here in
Ohio. Today, more than 75 living wage campaigns are underway in cities,
counties, states and college campuses across the country. Taken
collectively,
these impressive instances of local grassroots organizing are now rightfully
dubbed the national living wage movement, which syndicated columnist Robert
Kuttner has described as "the most interesting (and underreported)
grassroots
enterprise to emerge since the civil rights movement ... signaling a
resurgence of local activism around pocketbook issues."
The Coordinating Committee is seeking other community organizations with
whom
to partner in this effort. Organizations who would like to join in this
effort are encouraged to contact Paul Dumouchelle , also a member of the
committee.
