Liberals push campaign for 'living wage'

Human Events, Nov 26, 1999 by Heubeck, Eric

It would stand to reason that if these businesses had the profit margins to pay a "living wage," then they would not need subsidies and tax breaks to attract them to these areas in the first place.

The municipal governments seem to be trying simultaneously to make investment in these areas both more and less attractive. Whether businesses decide to move to an empowerment zone will ultimately depend on whether or not the value of the government benefit exceeds the cost inherent in the living wage requirement.

This was a major consideration in the recent defeat of a living wage proposal in Montgomery County, Md.

Small Businesses Say They Fear Harm

If passed, the living wage law would have set the minimum wage at $10.44. However, prominent Democrats such as Congressman Albert Wynn and County Executive Douglas M. Duncan opposed the proposal, and Councilman Phil Andrews, the bill's sponsor, failed to salvage it by narrowing its impact.

Small businesses said they would be harmed, and local politicians feared that the county's economic revitalization efforts would be seriously hampered. Duncan took control of the debate by offering a package of expanded earned income tax credits (EITCs) in place of the living wage. (Business groups tend to be more supportive of EITC programs as a way to boost the income of poor people because they offer the same income redistribution features of a fiving wage without distorting the market.)

The campaign to pass a living wage in Montgomery County was led by a local affiliate of the New Party called Progressive Montgomery, as well as by the Rainbow Coalition and, of course, labor unions.

The importance that organized labor assigned to passing a living wage law in Montgomery County is indicated by a full-- page ad that the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO ran in a local newspaper. Headlined "Betrayal" the ad called on two Democratic county councilmen to resign because they reneged on a promise to vote for a living wage ordinance made before they were elected. It is highly unusual for the AFL-CIO, at any level, to allow a confrontation with the Democratic Party to spill out into the public arena.

Although the living wage campaign in Montgomery County was a disappointment to its supporters, there were a few bright spots for activists.

In addition to the training and experience a political campaign provides, the backers of a living wage were able to better establish thse organizationally. As the New Party said, "Six months ago, the public profile of Progressive Montgomery was pretty low. Now we're perceived as a real player in county politics and as the leading progressive force in the Maryland suburbs " But the most significant result of the campaign in Montgomery County is that there are now serious efforts underway in neighbor ing Prince George's County to pass a living wage ordinance dim.

Labor and community activists are trying to introduce living wage legislation in the city councils and county boards of dozens of other municipalities.