Our 2007 Agenda

The Virginia Coalition for the Homeless is teaming up with Social Action Linking Together (SALT) and other like-minded organizations to propose the Virginia Fair Wage Act in the 2007 Virginia General Assembly. If successful, this proposal would raise the minimum wage in Virginia by $1.00 per year in each of the next three years (to $6.15/hour on July 1, 2007; $7.15/hour on July 1, 2008; and $8.15/hour on July 1, 2009). Thereafter, the minimum wage would be indexed to inflation and would rise in order to keep its value in the marketplace.

Rationale

Currently, the Virginia minimum wage is linked to the Federal minimum wage, and stands at $5.15/hour. It has not increased since 1997, and in that time has lost one-third of its value to inflation. In relationship to average wages, the minimum wage is at its lowest point since 1949. Most minimum wage workers are full-time employees; and most are adults with families to support. At minimum wage, a full-time job earns less than $11,000 per year-which is nearly $5,000 less than the poverty rate for a single parent with two children. In one of the wealthiest States in the richest nation in the world, we believe it is shameful that the promise of work-the hope that, with hard work, a person can lift themselves out of poverty-is being betrayed. We are shocked and offended that homeless shelters throughout the Commonwealth are filling up with people who work hard for a living-but cannot afford the cost of housing, transportation, food, and medical care.

And we intend to do something about it!

Action Items

If you would like to join us in our efforts to restore the promise of work and assist low-wage workers in lifting themselves out of poverty, we ask you to take three steps today:

1. Familiarize yourself with the issue by reviewing our information sheets: Minimum Wage--Focus on the Facts and Minimum Wage--Virginia Values.

2. Share these information sheets and your thoughts with other people you know, and with organizations with which you are affiliated: faith-based organizations, civic groups, neighborhood associations, PTAs, businesses.

3. Download the Virginia Fair Wage Resolution, and ask these organizations to sign it as a show of support for Virginia workers.

We will have a petition for individual signatures posted soon-please check back to this site for further information, or email John Horejsi to be added to our Action Alert listserv.

Please review the following documents:

Fair Wage Cover Letter

Fair Wage Resolution

Minimum Wage Facts

The Virginia Fair Wage Act: Fair Wages Card

3 Minute Message

Fair Wage Organizational Supporters

Sample SALT Testimony for Advocates

Minimum Wage Article, Washington Post, January 29. 2006

One America Committee's articles on minimum wage

Letter to the editor of the Examiner.

To the editor,

The opinion expressed regarding the proposed increase in the Virginia Minimum is just that -- opinion. In addition to the strong feelings of myself and others who supported this increase that current wages are simply morally unjust, the actual facts about the effects of raising the minimum wage do not support your editorial.

Opponents of raising the minimum wage always state that it hurts business. The facts prove otherwise. First, there is no study that shows a negative effect. Secondly, a number of studies have actually shown that states with minimum wage that is higher than the federal level have experienced retail employment growth that is 1.5 times higher than in states that continue to pay the federal minimum (VA). Most recently, in New York State, employment in the retail and food service industries (the largest employers with low-wage workers) grew significantly after the minimum wage was increased..Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show that retail trade employment in NY went up 1.8% in the first half of 2004 to the first half of 2005 (NY increased the minimum wage beginning January 2005). This increase was higher than the overall national average increase of .9% during the same period. In the food service industry, job growth likewise grew by 2.7% during the same time period.

Studies by others economists and analyses by the non-partisan, non-profit Economic Policy Institute have failed to find any systematic and significant job loss associated with increases in either the federal minimum wage or state minimum wages. EPI found no evidence of negative employment among small businesses in states that increased the minimum wage. These experts believe that there is no evidence of job losses because when wages are increased it results in higher productivity, lower hiring and training costs, decreased absenteeism and increased worker morale.

During the course of the past few months advocating for an increase in minimum wage, one of the most insightful questions I heard was this one from a fellow parishioner at my church: \"Companies raise the salaries of their top managers and executives all the time. If raising wages hurts business why is it only the lowest increase that would have that effect?\" If you have had a raise since 1997 (the last time the minimum wage was increased) you should support one for someone making the minimum wage.

Sincerely,
Terry Hartnett
Burke, VA 22015

Letter to the Washington Examiner editor:
Your editorial on Virginia\'s increase in the Minimum Wage misses the mark. The minimum wage provides $9,900 for a person working a full time position after deductions for FICA and income tax. This is $300 above the poverty line for a single person with no other dependants. It is only about half of the poverty line of $19,350 for a family of four. The last time Virginians received an increase in the minimum wage, to the current level of $5.15 per hour, was in 1997. How many of your readers have had no pay increase since 1997?

In 1997, the last time the minimum wage was increased, unemployment in Virginia was 4.1 percent. In 1998, a year later, it was 2.4 percent, in contradiction to your bald assertion that an increase in the minimum wage hurts those it is designed to help. What the working poor do with the additional money they earn from higher wages is to spend it, in the local economy, where it generates more jobs and more spending. This is hardly the negative impact on business envisioned by your editorial.

Give the poor a break. Nobody working full time should have to earn poverty wages in a country as wealthy as ours. And if the elected representatives in Washington DC continue to ignore their responsibility to do the right thing, then the state legislatures should take it upon themselves to act. In the District they did, and in Maryland they did. So did 17 other states in enacting higher minimum wages. Shame on the Virginia General Assembly for not doing the same.

Sincerely,
Bruce Neilson
Fairfax, VA 22032


Mr. Nicholas Horrock
Editor
The Washington Examiner
Letter to the Editor
101515th St., N.W., (Suite 500)
Washington, DC 20005

Dear Examiner Editor:

I am writing to you on behalf of Social Action Linking Together (SALT), made up of more than eight hundred faith-based social justice advocates whose actions aid people in need of many kinds of human services. We write today in response to the Examiner’s “Minimum Wage Minimizes Jobs” editorial. We support efforts to pass the Virginia FAIR WAGE ACT that seeks an overdue raise in the minimum wage. The current $ 5.15 wage is worth less now then it was before the last in-crease was enacted. The Virginia Fair Wage Act proposal would increase the minimum wage by $ 1.00, to $8.15 in three moderate steps of $1.00 each.

It is most unfortunate that General Assembly is completing another session without providing any pay increase for the Commonwealth’s lowest paid workers. No one working 40 hours a week should be living in poverty! That, indeed, many minimum wage earners do live in poverty is unacceptable and should be reason enough for this problem to have a much higher priority in the General Assembly’s action agenda.

We estimate that workers at the current minimum wage in Northern Virginia would have to work 122 hours per week to afford a modest apartment based on current market rental rates. Also, the current minimum wage fails to provide enough income to enable minimum wage workers to afford adequate housing in any area of this Commonwealth.

We strongly urge also that when the Fair Wage Act is enacted, the minimum wage should then be indexed to the actual annual cost of living, so the wage wouldn\'t have to be fought over every year. Even modest annual minimum wage increases that help people keep up better with the cost of living would make an enormous difference in the lives of over 450,000 Virginia workers, many of whom are raising children.

We are well aware of the usual job loss and business competition arguments made against minimum wage increases, but every day our members see poverty up close and are aware of its destructive and degrading effects. It\'s a myth that increasing the minimum wage causes unemployment. In the years following the 1997 minimum wage increase, Virginia experienced great economic growth. Nearly 265,000 new jobs were created. Unemployment dropped from 4.1 percent in 1997 to 2.4 percent in the following time.

We are very disappointed by your editorial and urge that you reconsider your position and decide to support enactment of our Fair Wage Act proposal as a direct way for helping many people gain a little against poverty conditions .

Sincerely,
John Horejsi
SALT Coordinator

STATEMENT TO THE NORTHERN VIRGINIA DELEGATION TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
On behalf of
SOCIAL ACTION LINKING TOGETHER (SALT) and THE VIRGINIA COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS

January 7, 2006

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the General Assembly, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this morning on behalf of Social Action Linking Together, better known as SALT, and the Virginia Coalition for the Homeless. These two organizations are working for a fair wage in Virginia, by raising the minimum wage $1 each year for the next three years, and indexing the wage to inflation thereafter. Over 80 organizations, including businesses, faith communities, and non profits, have signed our resolution supporting enactment of the Fair Wage Act this year. This issue will be brought before the General Assembly in 2006 by Senator Charles Colgan, Delegate Vince Callahan and fourteen co-patrons. I am here today to ask you to vote for the Virginia Fair Wage Act.

The minimum wage has not increased since 1997 in Virginia and is now worth only one-third of the average hourly wage, its lowest relative value since 1949. A full-time minimum wage worker earns only $10,712, before FICA and income tax withholdings. This is well below the federal poverty line for a family of three. Minimum wage workers in Virginia cannot afford necessities, including food, housing, and medical care. Our colleague Sue Capers, Policy Director for the Virginia Coalition for the Homeless, often testifies that Virginia's homeless shelters are filled with working parents who cannot afford housing. This is why the Coalition is focusing its advocacy efforts in the General Assembly this year solely on the Virginia Fair Wage Act. Most minimum wage workers are parents whose children suffer from the insecurity of low income and absent parents who work more than one job. While there are teenagers working in minimum wage jobs, many of them contribute their wages to a low-income family. Minimum wage earners work hard but survive only with the help of a second job and government aid such as food stamps or housing subsidies. As a society, we value an "honest day's pay for an honest day's work," so why should anybody in our Commonwealth who works full-time live in poverty?

Since the last increase in the federal minimum wage in 1997, 17 states and the District of Columbia have raised their minimum wage. More states have legislation pending for an increase, including our neighbor, Maryland. It is time for Virginia to do the same.

Significantly, empirical studies conclude that states which have raised their minimum wage have seen little or no job loss. Furthermore, increases in the minimum wage do not cause any loss of health benefits, because few employers paying low wages offer health benefits. Most health plans require an employee match, and if a worker at this level has to match the employer's contribution, they can't afford the match. Raising the minimum wage normally lifts wages for those workers earning just above the minimum; therefore, we estimate that as many as 445,000 Virginia workers and their families stand to benefit from passage of the Virginia Fair Wage Act.

While SALT will advocate passage of the Fair Wage Act during the General Assembly session, our legislative package also includes investments in human services. More details on these investments will be presented by the speakers who follow.

We appreciate your past support and request your full support of the Virginia Fair Wage Act. Minimum wage workers and their families are long overdue for a raise.


GOOD MORNING! MR. CHAIRMAN----THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME SPEAK. MY NAME IS FATIMA DHERA. I LIVE IN VIENNA. I AM FROM SOMOLIA. I CAME HERE 8 YEARS AGO. I CAME HERE BECAUSE OF THE CIVIL WAR. IT WAS DANGEROUS AND THERE WAS NO FOOD. I WANTED A BETTER LIFE FOR MY FAMILY.

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT THE INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE. MY HUSBAND AND I HAVE WORKED HARD TO SUPPORT OUR 4 CHILDREN.

I HAVE STUDIED HARD AT NIGHT TO LEARN ENGLISH. LAST YEAR I BECAME A UNITED STATES CITIZEN, AND I\'M VERY PROUD OF THAT.

UNTIL RECENTLY I HAVE WORKED FOR THE MINIMUM WAGE AND MY WAGES ARE STILL VERY LOW, AND IT HAS BECOME HARDER TO SUPPORT OUR FAMILY.

EVERYTHING IS MORE EXPENSIVE, BUT THE MINIMUM WAGE DOES NOT GO UP! PLEASE PASS THE FAIR WAGE ACT TO HELP US BY INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE!

States Take on Minimum Wage;
Across U.S., Activists Push Ballot Measures to Lift Workers’ Pay
Wall Street Journal
March 14, 2006
By Joi Preciphs

Activists from Nevada to Ohio are working to increase the minimum wage in their states, aiming to join 18 others that have set hourly pay higher than the federal rate of $5.15. The moves come as President Bush and congressional leaders remain opposed to federal legislation that would lift the minimum wage for the first time since 1997. But advocates hope the state campaigns will strengthen the hand of the few Republican members of Congress who back a higher minimum wage -- and become a ballot issue that helps Democrats pick up seats in certain swing states during elections this November. Business groups are picking their battles with the campaigns they are choosing to fight at the state and local level, says Michael Keegan of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a right-leaning group that organizes against "living wage" campaigns. Some groups have launched legal challenges to various living-wage ordinances cities have imposed, while others have lobbied state lawmakers to propose pre-emptive legislation barring municipalities from setting the higher wage floors.

At least 130 municipalities and counties have initiated living-wage campaigns since the late 1990, making government contractors pay far above minimum wage. Last year, more than 140 minimum-wage bills were introduced in at least 42 states, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its January Monthly Labor Review. Since January 2004, 11 states and the District of Columbia have set their minimum wages above the federal rate, with Maryland the most recent addition. Voters in the swing state of Florida last year approved a minimum wage increase to $6.40 an hour. In Nevada, residents will vote in November on a constitutional amendment to increase the state's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour with annual cost-of-living adjustments. In 2004, voters approved the initiative by 68% to 32%, but constitutional amendments are required to be voted on twice before becoming law. The Nevada proposal wouldn't just raise the pay floor; it also has an unusual provision that links wages to health care. It would require businesses not offering employees health coverage to pay an even higher minimum wage than the $6.15 an hour that would be required of all businesses. To continue paying the $5.15 minimum wage, employers must pay at least 90% of the cost of health insurance for their employees and dependents. For all others, the minimum wage will increase to $6.15 an hour next January, and the new wage would be indexed according to inflation at no more than 3% annually.

The Rev. Paul Sherry, former president of the United Church of Christ, is championing the minimum-wage cause in his home state of Ohio and other states for the National Council of Churches USA. More than 300,000 signatures must be collected by August to get a measure on the ballot this fall to raise Ohio's minimum wage to $6.85 an hour, with future inflation adjustments. A minimum wage boost in the closely divided state of Ohio would mark a shift in the politics of the issue. Currently, Ohio is one of two states with a minimum wage below the federal level. "People recognize that the current minimum wage is really insufficient for people to live on," says Dr. Sherry, whose organization represents various Protestant denominations. "Given the current status of the minimum wage, so many people are working hard and their families are remaining in poverty." He will be part of a delegation visiting Capitol Hill lawmakers this week. Religious conservatives, however, haven't joined the campaign. "I would think that we're more apt to rely on the free market," says David Miller, vice president of Citizens for Community Values, a Cincinnati group that organized conservative Christians during the last presidential election. "When you have the government tinkering with the free market enterprise it's no longer free."

Public opinion surveys indicate that raising the minimum wage is a popular cause across the ideological spectrum. In a Gallup Poll in November, more than 80% of Americans surveyed said they were in favor of "Congress passing legislation that would raise the minimum wage," with only 14% saying they would disagree.

"This issue is so popular among the entire public that Republican voters don't even realize they're supposed to vote against these initiatives," says Kristina Wilfore, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a left-leaning umbrella group backed by labor unions and financier George Soros.