Brennan Center for Justice

This article can be found on the web at

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060925/kvh

Chicagos Living Wage

by KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL & SAM GRAHAM-FELSEN

September 25, 2006

As Americans return to their jobs after Labor Day, they should remember that this

Republican Congress has refused to raise the minimum wage, which has remained

stagnant at $5.15 for an unconscionable nine years. In the GOPs latest display of

contempt for working Americans, Republican lawmakers recently attempted to attach a

minimum wage increase to a bill that would cut the estate tax and cost the Treasury $268

billion over the next decade. According to the GOP, in order for those Americans who

have been doing an honest days work for $10,700 a year to get a raise, Paris Hilton and

the richest 8,200 families must receive yet another irresponsible tax cut the country cant

afford. Democrats refused to go along with the GOPs cynical legislative shenanigans

and the bill failed to pass the Senate.

Tired of such callous disregard for hard-working people, grassroots activists and

progressive representatives at the state and local levels are stepping up to the plate.

Twenty-two states and Washington, DC, have enacted higher minimum wages than the

federal government, and several more may raise wages this November, thanks to ballot

initiatives. On the local level, a landmark ordinance was recently passed in Chicago,

handing the living-wage movement its most significant victory to date. On July 26 the

Chicago City Council voted 35 to 14 to require big box stores to pay a living wage of

$10 plus $3 in benefits per hour to employees by July 2010. The ordinance affects stores

that net more than $1 billion annually and that occupy more than 90,000 square feet,

including Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Toys R Us and Home Depot.

This ordinance brings hope to thousands of people. A job should lift a person out of

poverty, not keep him in poverty, says Alderman Joseph Moore, the laws chief sponsor.

Chicago is on the forefront of a growing movement in cities and towns across the nation

to fill the void left by the federal government.

The victory was the culmination of two years of massive mobilization by Chicagos

Grassroots Collaborative, and it did not come easily. The coalition--which included

ACORN and a wide array of labor, faith and antipoverty groups--faced strong opposition

from Wal-Mart, big retail associations, Chicagos mainstream media and the citys

powerful mayor, Richard Daley.

The campaign kicked off in 2004 when Wal-Mart announced plans to open a store in

Chicagos heavily poor and black South Side. Madeline Talbott of ACORN knew that

opposing Wal-Mart outright was a losing battle. u201COur members are low-income folks,

and Wal-Mart is their favorite store because of the prices, Talbott said. But they were

also appalled by the companys practices. A lot of them said, Yeah, I want to shop at

Wal-Mart, but Ive got a sister who works there in another neighborhood, and she gets no

benefits, and its been terrible for her. When Talbott and fellow organizers discovered

that Costco, one of Wal-Marts major competitors, was paying a living wage and

providing benefits while still turning a profit, the idea for the big-box ordinance (We

didnt want to make it just an anti-Wal-Mart thing, she says) hit them.

The Grassroots Collaborative began mobilizing on the ground, knocking on doors and

organizing house meetings. The response from the community was overwhelming. In

February it delivered 10,000 signed postcards supporting the ordinance to the City

Council. A month later an alderman put the issue on his wards ballot as a referendum,

and it passed easily.

As the City Council began to take the movement more seriously, the opposition became

more intense. Wal-Mart and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) spent vast

sums on a large lobbying campaign and advertising in Chicago media, including on the

popular black talk-radio station WVON. The citys major newspapers, the Sun-Times and

the Tribune2C consistently attacked the initiative, toeing the corporate line and arguing that

it would lead to huge job losses for Chicagoans. Mayor Daley, notorious for his viselike

grip on the City Council, loudly opposed the measure as well.

Despite overwhelming pressure from powerful moneyed forces, the movement continued

to gain support. Days before the City Council vote, a Lake Research Partners Poll

commissioned by the Grassroots Collaborative found 84 percent support for the

ordinance--90 percent among African-Americans. They had the money, but we had the

people, says Talbott. It was a stark reality to see this huge media frenzy coming out

against us, but in the final weeks we had so much support there were people literally

ripping signs out of our hands and hoisting them in the air, cars honking everywhere we

went, tons of people joining our rallies and calling their officials.

The aldermen sided with the people, but the fight is far from over. First, theres the

possibility of a veto from Daley, which would be his first in seventeen years in office.

But Daley would have to convince two aldermen to switch their votes in order to avoid an

override, and with such overwhelming support and continued pressure from the

Grassroots Collaborative, that would be difficult.

Then theres the brewing legal challenge from the IRMA. Many opponents are confident

that the courts will overturn the bill by finding it in violation of federal ERISA standards;

they point to Maryland, where the courts killed the Fair Share Health Care Act (which

would have mandated that Wal-Mart and other large companies provide health benefits).

Yet Paul Sonn of NYUs Brennan Center for Justice, who helped craft the Chicago

ordinance, says this law is different from Marylands and that hes very confident it

will be upheld. Every federal court of appeals that has reviewed a wage and benefit law

like this one has upheld it under ERISA, he contends.

The ordinance is already making waves beyond Chicagos city limits. Alderman Moore

has been fielding calls from politicians across the country interested in passing similar

bills, and Illinoiss ACORN office is sharing strategies with grassroots organizations in

other urban areas. The victory has boosted energy and confidence in the campaign in

Washington, DC, which is considering an ordinance like Chicagos. Weve tapped into

something, says Talbott. The demand for a decent wage and decent benefits is so

strong. These people withstood all of the media, all of the scare tactics and they didnt

flinch.