Activists to Push for "Living Wage" Ordinance
in Rockland's Fall Elections
July 18, 2005

A new Rockland County Living Wage Ordinance will be pushed for by local activist groups and politicians in the upcoming Rockland elections, the RBA has learned.

The Rockland County Living Wage was narrowly defeated, with the help of an executive veto, in 2000 when the RBA spearheaded a campaign against the law that would have required mandatory wage hikes for certain workers employed by firms contracting with the County.

The RBA’s position is that the Living Wage is bad economic policy and furthermore the movement behind it represents a threat to the principles of American capitalism. Though presented as a local grass-roots effort, such campaigns are actually part of a greater national campaign to create a new system in America, modeled on the social democracies of Western Europe.

"America’s economy is the strongest in the world. The social democracies of Europe are experiencing high unemployment and inflation," RBA President/CEO Al Samuels said.

The Living Wage movement is funded by tens of millions of dollars from unions like AFL-CIO, Teamster’s, Communications Workers of America and Service Employees International Union. It is also supported by activist organizations like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the union-funded academic think tank, the Economic Policy Institute (EcPI).

The fledgling New Party and Working Families Party have been strong advocates for the Living Wage. New Party leaders have said, "We’re looking in the short term to take over certain turfs."

"There's no better way to build a political movement in American than to run a city," Adam Glickman, New Party Communications Director told In These Times magazine.

The details of this year’s wage proposal are as yet unknown though word has been they will be more far-reaching than those proposed in 2000, which were designed to cover all businesses and non-profit agencies holding contracts with the county government, doing over $80,000 business the first year ($40,000 in subsequent years).

Employers would have been asked to pay their workers $8.25 with benefits or $9.50 without, until 2001. The numbers were to rise to $8.75/$10.00 and $9/$10.50 by 2002, including six paid holidays, sick days or personal days per year.

Business analysts say such wage hike laws are destructive to economies, causing higher unemployment and taxes, as well as placing an unfair permanent burden on selected business owners.

To counter the efforts of the Living Wage movement the Employment Policies Institute has published a book and created a webpage at www.livingwage.org that explain the truths behind the movement.

ARCHIVED NEWS STORIES