The IDS editorial board warned the city council against "thrusting its fingers into the pie of the Bloomington market" by passing a living wage resolution ("The price of living," Sept. 22). In fact, the government already regulates the market in many ways, from agricultural subsidies to the federal minimum wage. By focusing on market regulation, the editors ignore the essential issue of human rights. In 1996, the Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues estimated that a single adult in Bloomington earning $6.62 per hour, significantly more than the federal minimum wage ($5.15), would spend the following monthly: $466 on housing, $162 on food, $147 on transportation, $90 on health care and $214 on taxes. Even under these meager conditions, this worker would be left with only $87 a month for remaining expenses. While costs have increased since 1996, the minimum wage has not. In the United States, the buying power of the minimum wage is 30 percent lower than it was in 1968, despite the fact that the economy is twice as productive. \nAmerican ideology values hard work, but a full-time worker making minimum wage falls below the poverty line. The IDS urges us not to fix what isn't broken. A system that cannot meet basic needs, however, is certainly broken. \nThe living wage will provide for housing, food, clothing, childcare, transportation, health care and taxes. Although detractors contend that it will lead to job losses, evidence from cities that have implemented living wages suggests otherwise. Most employers can absorb the costs of wage increases without resorting to lay-offs. In addition, employers in living-wage cities have often expressed satisfaction, citing greater worker morale, less turnover and less absenteeism. The living wage will generate a more stable workforce for employers while helping to ameliorate the unjust living conditions of low-wage workers. \nFor more information, see www.acorn.org\n
Ursula McTaggart for No Sweat!\nUnited States Against Sweatshops affiliate
