Return-Path: <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g2RDqxu24266; Wed, 27 Mar 2002 08:52:59 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 08:52:59 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <bf.1dac93ea.29d327c4@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: PDRNRI@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:779] Livng Wage/ Education X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 28 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Status: O Content-Length: 4000 Lines: 84 Dear list: The following editorial appeared recently in the Providence Journal, where a living wage ordinance is currently before the city council. Proponents of the wage have already scaled back their request substantially, including a proposed wage reduction of about $2 (from just over $12 to just over $10) -- but the proposal is still on very shaky ground. The editorial makes the usual arguments against the proposal, then asserts that city money would be better invested in education -- implying that a lack of employability skills is behind the city's economic difficulties, and that workers who now must work regular overtime at sub-living wages to feed their children (as well as the children themselves) ought to knuckle down and hit the books a bit harder. Many of you know that in spite of the smoke-and-mirrors revival of the city center, Providence is struggling. During the 80's and 90's Rhode Island in general bled manufacturing jobs, as major companies such as Textron and Hasbro contracted work to countries where the workers are more readily exploited. I've written the Journal, taking them to task for their gross misrepresentation of the problem. I urge anyone who would like to contribute their comments to quickly send a note of 250 words or less to letters@projo.com. For more information on the living wage push, contact Matthew Jercyk at Rhode Island Jobs With Justice, matthew@rijwj.org. The editorial text follows. peace, David Hayes _____________________________ _____________________ March.23.2002 Providence Journal Editorial Wrong way to boost wages http://www.projo.com/report/html/opinion/07269751.htm We would all like people to make more money, especially the poor. But "living-wage" ordinances of the sort being proposed in Providence are not the way go to make the city more prosperous over the long term. Because capital is highly mobile within the United States, adding the ordinance's additional cost of doing business here would drive away employment. It would mandate hourly pay well over the federal minimum wage for certain municipal employees and certain private-sector employees whose organizations get municipal contracts, tax breaks or subsidies from the city; it would also help cover health-insurance expenses. Issues such as mandated wage levels and health-insurance coverage are better dealt with on the national level, so that employers do not feel compelled to engage in a "race to the bottom" to be competitive, especially in these ruthlessly competitive times. You can be sure that if costs of doing business go up substantially in Providence, many more business will leave -- swiftly. We might also mention that the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies has found that the federal "earned-income tax credit more efficiently targets poor and near-poor families than living wage ordinances." The effect on Providence of statutorily imposed higher labor costs would be very damaging. The city already has a weak business base, despite its nationally noted physical improvements of recent years (mostly downtown). Big mandated pay increases for certain politically connected groups would make the city poorer, not richer, by driving away businesses already here, and discouraging others from moving to Providence. The tax base would be hard hit, making it that much more difficult to finance the quality education and other public services that a thriving, growing city needs. City government and local business should strive to boost the quality of the workforce, and hence the productivity of local business, through better public education and vocational training. This would boost wages in a healthy way that would reflect the city's ability not only redistribute tax revenues and other wealth (to some extent based on the political clout of certain constituencies), but to help create it through high-valued manufacturing and services.
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