Living Wages for the Good of Chicago

The American Dream affirms that everyone who works hard can

make beyond a subsistence living in America – that everyone can earn a
place in the middle class.  But today, in
light of the Mayor's choice to veto the Living Wage Ordinance and choose the
stockholder over the stock boy, I want to lift up four significant obstacles
that make the American Dream essentially a myth for the majority of low-wage
American laborers.

For the last 24 hours people have been asking me if I am
disappointed by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's veto of the Big Box Living Wage
Ordinance.  Of course I'm
disappointed.  And I'm angry.  But I'm not angry for me.  I'm angry for all of the people who work hard
every day, those who go to work, work hard and try to make ends meet, and yet
week in and week out they come up short.

The Chicago City Council had passed a measure demanding that
the most profitable retailers and largest employers pay their employees a just
living wage – $10 an hour, plus $3 an hour in healthcare benefits.  While this ordinance may not have allowed all
people in poor communities to achieve their dreams, it would have moved 10,000
workers in Chicago
out of poverty. 

The American Dream affirms that everyone who works hard can
make beyond a subsistence living in America – that everyone can earn a
place in the middle class.  But today, in
light of the Mayor's choice to veto the Living Wage Ordinance and choose the
stockholder over the stock boy, I want to lift up four significant obstacles
that make the American Dream essentially a myth for the majority of low-wage
American laborers.

1.     
A
lack of jobs that pay a living wage

Poverty rates in the US
have changed little since the 1996 welfare overhaul indicating that although
many more people are in the workplace, they have moved to $7 and $8 per hour
jobs and remain in poverty.[1]  More than 2.9 million people below the poverty
line are full time workers.[2]

2.     
A
lack of housing that is affordable

In Chicago, a "housing wage" (the wage that you
would need in order to be able to afford a two bedroom apartment for
approximately $800 per month, working 40 hours per week) is $18 per hour. 

3.     
A
lack of affordable healthcare options for low- and middle-income families

The average cost of family
healthcare in 2005 was $10,880 per year[3],
while the median family income was $46,300 per year; as a result over 46
million Americans were without health insurance in 2005.[4]

4.     
Low
quality public elementary and secondary schools make college a remote
possibility for children from poor communities

Due to an over-reliance on property
taxes to fund education, Illinois
has the second greatest disparities in funding for public elementary and
secondary schools.  As a result, students
from wealthy areas have access to a quality education, and students from poor
communities do not.  Additionally,
decreased funding for Federal Student Loans and Pell Grants and increased
tuition costs across the board put a college/university education out of reach
for the vast majority of students in impoverished communities.

These conditions speak to the lack of economic opportunity
for individuals who are unlucky enough to be born poor to achieve the American
Dream.  But as people of faith are we not
called by God to demand justice for the least of these, the working poor?  As the Book of Deuteronomy proclaims, "You
shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers." (24: 14 NRSV).

Am I disappointed in Mayor Daley's veto?  You bet. 
Will we press on?  Absolutely.  The hard working people of this phenomenal
city are counting on us to do just that.

Rev. Jennifer Kottler, Deputy Director, Protestants for the
Common Good.

[1] From the
Washington Post, August 29,
2006 article, "US Poverty Rate Unchanged Last Year", online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/29/AR2006082900464.html

[2] From the
Leadership Council on Civil Rights Education Fund's report, "The Faces of
Hurricane Katrina:  A Portrait of Poverty
Throughout America", available online at http://www.civilrights.org/press_room/KatrinaPaperandFAQs.pdf

[3] From the
Kaiser Family Foundation.  Report on-line
at http://www.kff.org/insurance/chcm091405nr.cfm

[4] From the
Washington
Post, August 29, 2006
article, "US Poverty Rate Unchanged Last Year."