 |
|
The Winners!
Congratulations to AFGE 916 and affiliated groups for Best Bi-Annual Action! This Oklahoma City, OK group shot will remain here until our September "Bridge the Economic Gap" event. |
|
Universal
Living Wage
|
|
| This year, 3.5 million people will experience homelessness. The federal government says 42% of them are working at some point during the week. Clearly, the work ethic is there, but the wage to afford basic housing is not. These folks come from our 10.1 million minimum wage workers. Minimum wage jobs, the ones that can’t be outsourced, were once stepping stones. Now they are the jobs raising whole families when coupled with subsidies. | |
| The antithesis of being housed is homelessness. The proposal, through a ten year plan, is to fix the Federal Minimum Wage by indexing it to the local cost of housing throughout the United States. | |
| By using existing government guidelines: 1) work 40 hours in a week, 2) spend no more than 30% of one’s income on housing, and 3) using the HUD section 8 rental calculations, we ensure that anyone working 40 hours in a week will be able to afford basic rental housing, food, clothing, utilities, and access to health care. | |
| US military pay practices, using geographic considerations, mirror this approach. |
United We Stand! |
|
We
must work relentlessly to preserve and promote the "American Dream."
We must ensure that every American is working. And we must ensure that
every working American is paid a Fair Living Wage.
|
|
We dedicate our Universal Living Wage Campaign to every hardworking individual
around the world
|
|
Watch
this spot for news about Richard R. Troxell's upcoming book LOOKING UP
AT THE BOTTOM LINE. It's the compelling story of the Universal Living
Wage campaign to date!
|
A Few Thoughts on the “Increase”
|
Minimum
Wage Increase:
|
|
(Story
by Richard Troxell, National Chairman, Universal Living Wage Campaign)
|
| No worker can argue that an increase in the minimum wage isn’t a good thing; however, if the past is any indication of the future, it could guarantee poverty wages for American workers for the next decade. The current Federal Minimum Wage, (FMW) of $5.15/hour has not been increased since 1997. That’s ten years. Unfortunately, there is no doubt that raising the FMW to $7.25 over the next two years won’t get one homeless minimum wage worker housing in any urban area in the country. For example, the Universal Living Wage formula, based on existing governmental guidelines, requires a wage of $11.73 to get an efficiency apartment and $12.08 for a one bedroom apartment in Ithaca, New York. At the same time, it would require $9.38 for an efficiency apartment and $10.88 for a one bedroom apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. It may be possible for workers to get apartments in rural American for $7.25, but it is highly unlikely, and all of their stars would have to be perfectly aligned with no disruption for them to keep these apartments. We all know that everyone hits that financial bump in the road. And when that happens, if one is not financially prepared to deal with it, the result is the loss of the apartment along with the deposit money and a “good rental history.” The worker is then faced with moving costs, new deposit costs, first and often last months rent if lucky enough to find a cheaper apartment and someone who will rent to a “bad renter.” |
| The new wage increase to $7.25/hour may now afford renters efficiency apartments in rural America. However, in reality very little of this housing stock (efficiency apartments) actually exists. Furthermore, the vast majority of workers live and work in urban America and the American standard remains a one bedroom apartment. One more thing to be considered is the fact cited in Beth Schulman’s book, The Betrayal of Work, that American workers are staying in minimum wage jobs for up to ten years, (i.e. Wal-Mart employees) and they are attempting to raise families on these limited wages. |
| As a result of these cumulative considerations, the ULW Campaign has formally shifted its minimum housing standard to a one bedroom apartment. |
| Once again, the increase in the federal minimum wage has been plucked from the air. One member of Congress selects an amount to which they think the rest of Congress will agree to raise the wag. It is then debated, then decreased, and then possibly passed. There is no logic applied to the amount selected. There is no indexing to the cost of living or any national indexes. The amount is simply contrived. In 1938, following the Great Depression, with millions of workers wandering our nation seeking work, (this year 3.5 million people will again experience homelessness, 42% of whom the federal government says are working at some point during the week), Congress created the Fair Labor Standards Act that constituted a minimum wage. This was a wage that was intended to provide the basics: food, clothing, and shelter. But it was never indexed to anything, and today with inflated housing costs, a full time minimum wage worker, even with the increase to $7.25/hour, won’t be able to afford basic housing in urban America. Furthermore, with the cost of oil at $60+/barrel, inflation is likely to consume any benefits of this increase before it fully goes into effect. |
| Our approach, that uses existing governmental guidelines, indexes the wage to the local cost of housing throughout the United States. In this manner, a worker is assured that if he/she works 40 hours in a week, whether it be Austin, Boston or LA, etc., he/she will be able to afford basic food, clothing, shelter, and have enough to get into an emergency room at the local hospital. During the last 20-25 years, minimum wage workers have not been able to do that because Congress keeps using the ‘one wage fits all” concept while failing to create a living wage. American workers require a living wage which is indexed to the local cost of housing. Indeed, housing is the most expensive ongoing item in an American family’s budget. A living wage will establish a stable workforce and dramatically reduce repetitive retraining costs which destabilize American business. |
| By continuing to only increase the minimum wage by small increments, minimum wage workers are assured of never reaching the federal poverty guideline but rather only remaining in poverty. By always going only part of the distance toward a living wage, we are guaranteed that we never achieve one. These are more than words when you recognize that it means a person can work a full time, 40 hour a week job and still not be able to afford basic housing without subsidies and sometimes not even then.. American business benefits from the labor of its workers and should provide a “fair wage for a fair day’s work.” |
| We need to immediately embrace a Universal Living Wage that ensures that anyone putting together 40 hours of work per week can afford the basics of life: food, clothing, shelter, and have access to health care. If we embrace this moral concept now, and Congress votes to tweak the Federal Minimum Wage making it a Universal Living Wage, then over the next ten years we can ease this system into place with as little disruption to business as possible. The current policy of creating an endless series of partial or mincing half steps every decade or so only perpetuates poverty. |
| Clearly, the ULW approach of indexing the FMW to housing throughout the United States is good for the American worker. It is good for American business, and it is good for America. |
 |
Our 3rd Bridge the Economic Gap Day! |
|||
|
On September
4th, 2007— the day after Labor Day —
endorsing organizations (Nonprofits, Unions, Faith Based Entities and Businesses) got on the bridges of America and called for a Universal Living Wage. |
|||
|
In our first
Bridge the Economic Gap Day, we had a committment for 87 ACTIONS and had
at least one ACTION in EVERY State in the Union including Washington DC
and Puerto Rico. |
|||
|
|||
|
In September
around Labor Day, we go to our nation's Bridges with similar banners that
say:
“Bridge the ECONOMIC GAP with a www.UNIVERSALLIVINGWAGE.org Here the idea is that if employers paid living wages we could reduce some of the burden on tax payers from excess reliance on food stamps, TANF, the Earned Income Tax Credit, General Assistance, etc.. Our goal is to cover every state in the Union. |
|||
|
We invited
all organizations to join us on September 4th, 2007 on a bridge in their
own city.
Sign our endorsement resolution and then write us at rrtroxell@aol.com to participate next time. We will be repeating these ACTIONS every April and every September untill we reach a tipping point of 250 simultaneous ACTIONS across the nation. |
|||
|
The names of participant organizations appear separately on the web site with each group's contact information. Join us in our historic movement for economic equality! Make a financial contribution today. Thank you. |
|||
| Sample Press Release |
|||
| This web site is sponsored by HTH, an education and advocacy organization that believes the moral premise that anyone working a 40 hour week should be able to afford some form of housing. Both HTH and the Universal Living Wage Campaign were founded because of the vision of Richard R. Troxell, a long time advocate for social issues. | |
|
This
is an INTERACTIVE
web site— we want your support for a Universal Living Wage to adjust
the "one size does NOT fit all" minimum wage that is currently
keeping low wage earners from a chance at the American Dream. Our support
grows daily--see our endorsements
from a wide variety of groups!
|
|
|
Want to vote/make a statement as a group? Print out our Resolution, sign it, and mail it to us! Or you can also use our secure petition to send us official group support. Individuals,
go to our secure petition
and sign on to show your support for this idea. |
|
| The Universal Living Wage is different from the one hundred plus living wage campaigns being promoted by ACORN. Living wage campaigns are pressing city and county governments to pay their employees and those that contract with them a living wage. These are critical first steps in establishing economic justice for minimum wage workers. However, the Universal Living Wage is different in two very distinct ways. First, the ULW affects all workers. It ensures that anyone working a 40 hour week should be able to afford housing based on the wage earned. Second, the Universal Living Wage is based on a single national formula. The formula relates the minimum wage to the local cost of housing throughout the United States. Recognizing the concerns of the business community, we have adopted a ULW Ten Year Plan for the transitional implementation of the ULW. | |
| According to The Mayor's 16th Annual Survey on "Hunger and Homelessness in American Cities" dated December 14, 2000, the leading cause of hunger and homelessness is low-paying jobs. It was reported that "Despite being in a period of unprecedented economic expansion, low-income wage workers and their families are finding it increasingly difficult to locate decent affordable housing; increasingly, they find themselves among a growing population of homeless." (Citizens) | |
|
Also in a previous year's Conference of Mayors report, it was asserted that "in every state, more than the minimum wage is required to afford a one or two bedroom apartment at 30% of earned income." |
|
Read
our new white paper,Globalization
and Labor, in .pdf format!
|
| July 23, 2007 |
Federal Government Pays its Employees Locality Pay |
|
Ever heard of
Federal Locality Pay? “In 1990, the office of personnel Management
implemented the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA)
which was designed to enable the government to recruit, motivate, and
retain a qualified representative work force.”
|
|
In addition
to an employee’s base pay, the federal government can offer monetary recruitment,
relocation, and retention incentives.
|
|
In 1994, the
federal government implemented a Locality Pay system for General Schedule
(GS) employees. Pay rates are adjusted on a locality basis as opposed
to a national basis.
|
|
This should
remind us of the U.S. Military that has moved from the VAH pay system
to the Base Housing Allowance, BAH, system. Here the U.S. Military, in
addition to paying personnel based on pay grade and time-in-grade, also
provides pay adjustments based on geographic cost considerations. For
example: if a military family gets transferred from Fort Hood, Texas to
Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., they receive a pay increase
to reflect the cost of living difference.
|
|
So we see that
the U.S. Military and the Federal Government, both pay their employees
using geographical considerations. No doubt, it is time for the American
people be given the same consideration. We need to index the federal minimum
wage to the local cost of housing so that no matter where a minimum wage
worker works, they will be able to afford basic food, clothing, shelter,
and have access to health care. It is time for the Universal Living Wage.
|
|
Would you like to contact your representative? Use the following link to visit a cluster of links accessing each state and its representatives. |
|
|
|
"There
is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an
adequate wage to every American citizen... There is nothing except shortsightedness to prevent us from guaranteeing an annual minimum- and livable- income for every American family." |
|
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
|
Employers, Non-Profits, and Municipalities! |
| Do you believe in the Universal Living Wage? Are you willing to strive toward it? Join others who believe in the ULW, and become an Enlightened Market--pledge to work toward a living wage for your area! |
|
|
Economist Says "Yes!" to a Universal Living Wage |
|
 |
Noted economist Dr. Gloria Bromell-Tinubu says "It has been proven time and time again that business will benefit from paying a living wage..." |
|
|
|
| Our Goal Here is to adjust the current federal minimum wage (we feel that one size does NOT fit all) using the Universal Living Wage Formula. As we say, this will ensure that all 40 hour a week workers will be able to afford housing wherever they do that work. Realize that we will continue to support a national wage level below which no workers shall be paid. | |
| To Accomplish This Goal we have created this interactive web site. This will allow us to identify local supporters for this idea throughout the country. We will then be able to demonstrate strong local support that will enable us to press for this national initiative. | |
|
Go to ULW Formula and use the formula to calculate the wage in your area. Then go to the Facts & Myths section and see the arguments to support the concept of a universal living wage. Finally, go to our secure Petition and sign on to show your support for this idea. (AoL 4.0 browser users, especially Mac users, take note--be sure you have the last update to 4.x. Security codes have changed. The earliest browser will enable you to fill out and submit the secure petition, but you may need to manually click closed a blank extra window to return to the ULW site.) |
|
| Then--keep an eye on What's New and our Events Calendar for ULW Campaign activities in your area! Remember to bookmark this site! | |
|
"Who can vote/sign the petition?" Any voting-age citizen of the United States from any state in the union may vote/sign our petition. Let yourself be heard! |
|
|
Join us in our efforts to spread the word about the Universal Living Wage. Fill out our petition, which will join you to those who seek an answer to the problem of trying to live on minimum wage. This petition is located on a Secure Server hosted by JSweb Technology (on a server owned by SiteGenie, LLC). This server uses SSL technology with a Thawte Consulting (a division of Verisign) Certificate. Your data will be collected and stored at a secure site. Want to vote/make a statement as a group? Print out our Resolution, sign it, and mail it to us! Help us show our representatives in Washington DC that there is support for a Universal Living Wage. |
|
| Donate to this cause! For your convenience, we have three methods of donating to the Universal Living Wage Campaign, an initiative of House the Homeless, Inc.—either by check, or by credit card or checking account through PayPal. | |
|
Thank you for your donation! House the Homeless, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Contributions to HTH Inc. are tax exempt to the full extent allowed by law. |
|
|
NOTE: All external links will open in new windows, as does our Petition and Resolution. To return to Universal Living Wage, either close the window or use the BACK button on your browser. |
|
| Privacy Policy: No personal information will ever be sold from our operation. We will primarily use it for contact purposes (sparingly). We will flash it in front of elected officials but never release it to them. |
Visitors to date:
by Universal Living Wage
PO Box 2312, Austin, TX 78768. All rights reserved.
This web site last updated May 30, 2008. Thank you for visiting