As lawmakers on Capitol Hill debate legislation to increase the federal minimum wage, a grass-roots organization is pushing for an hourly wage increase at the state level.
A small but vocal group met at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library last night to campaign for Virginia's lowest-paid workers.
It was the first of what the nonprofit Virginia Organizing Project hopes will be many local events to bolster support for an increase in the state's minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, the same as the federal minimum wage.
"It makes no sense for working people to live in poverty," said VOP intern Richael Faithful, who organized the meeting with VOP staff member Cathy Woodson and Chris Fink, coordinator of the Fredericksburg branch of the Virginia Green Party.
VOP organizes support for issues such as an increased minimum wage and an end to racial profiling.
The federal hourly minimum wage was raised from $4.75 to $5.15 in 1997.
In inflation-adjusted terms, the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955, according to economists at the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.
That's hardly enough for a single adult to support him or herself, let alone a family, higher-wage advocates say.
"Even $9 an hour doesn't cut it, but when you raise the floor, it does impact other industries," said the 21-year-old Faithful, a rising senior at the College of William & Mary.
Faithful said that, according to data from the Virginia Employment Commission, Fredericksburg-area industries with the most workers--including education, retail, restaurant and health services--paid an average hourly wage of $6.15.
Not quite minimum wage, but not enough to live on, either. That raises another issue: whether local, state or federal governments should impose a so-called living wage--enough to meet the cost of living in a given area.
Ellyn Hartzler, a homelessness prevention paralegal for Rappahannock Legal Services, said a minimum wage isn't enough.
"The word 'minimum'--it minimizes a great part of our community," said Hartzler, one of six people who attended last night's meeting.
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have set hourly minimum wages above the federal level, Faithful said.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved Republican-sponsored legislation early Saturday that phases in a $2.10-increase in the federal minimum hourly wage over three years. The wage would reach $5.85 in January 2007, $6.55 on June 1, 2008, and $7.25 on June 1, 2009.
The Senate will consider the bill later this week.
The people earning minimum wage today aren't the same workers who earned minimum wage nine years ago--the last time it was increased, said James Sherk, a policy analyst at the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
"Two-thirds of minimum-wage workers get a raise within a year," Sherk said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Minimum-wage workers are the least-skilled employees, due to age, inexperience or both.
According to 2005 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 53.3 percent of minimum-wage earners are 16 to 24 years old.
Minimum wage jobs are entry-level positions, and 40 percent of minimum-wage workers didn't have a job the year before, Sherk said.
As works gain more experience and skills, their productivity increases, along with their wages. Higher government-mandated wages reduce that wage growth, he said.
"The size of those raises slows down when the minimum wage gets increased," Sherk said.
Whether individuals support or oppose a minimum wage increase, community discussion is necessary, Faithful said.
"The primary goal is to start the dialogue," she said.
ON THE NET: For more information on the Virginia Fair Wage Alliance, visit vafairwage.org.
To reach NATASHA ALTAMIRANO:
Email: naltamirano@freelancestar.com