Photo by Pat Barcas
Dan Bohrod explains how the Madison agreement helped workers.

By Pat Barcas
Staff Writer
pat@foxvalleylabornews.com.
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013

A movement has begun that would make Aurora the first city in Illinois to enact a living wage ordinance, which would require a minimum wage several dollars above the national minimum wage requirement.

San Francisco, Calif., Santa Fe, N.M., Washington, D.C., and Madison, Wis. all have living wage ordinances in place. Chicago passed a living wage ordinance in 2006, but it was vetoed by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

The labor group Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice aims to make it affordable to live in Aurora, if you work in Aurora. It held a panel discussion at the Prisco Center Nov. 14.

Dan Bohrod has a long career as a public servant, and he was on staff for Madison, Wisconsin’s living wage task force, enacting the ordinance in 1999.

The living wage back then was $7.91 per hour, rising about three percent per year to $12.45 starting Jan. 1, 2014. It is based on 110 percent of the federal poverty guide for a family of four.

The agreement in Madison exempts professional services, supply contracts, public works projects, and collective bargaining agreements. It does apply to city service contracts more than $5,000 and financial assistance projects over $100,000.

Bohrod said so far, the ordinance has worked well for the city.

“It’s worked the way we planned for Madison. There are no bad actors, and there have been no formal audits of businesses,” he said, adding the ordinance is a complaint-based system. No payroll records are actively monitored.

Some challenges noted by Bohrod are wage compression, competitive health insurance benefits, and data collection and evaluation.

“We still haven’t collected much data,” he said. “That’s the son of living wage, and he hasn’t been born yet.”

Dr. Vince Gaddis, the moderator of the discussion and professor at Benedictine University, said a higher wage only benefits the community in terms of education and attracting higher quality workers that stay around longer.

He pointed out that one in six households in Kane County are food insecure.

“This not only affects the employment sphere, but the education sphere too,” said Gaddis. “People who don’t earn a living wage, their households are not getting the education to be able to test at higher levels. The living wage ordinance breaks that cycle.”

Indeed, Madison has shown a reduced worker turnover rate, increased recruitment numbers, and a higher worker retention rate since the ordinance passed 14 years ago.

Santa Fe currently has a living wage ordinance set at $10.50 per hour, and the city showed no flight of employers to other cities after the ordinance was passed.

“The argument is that people will leave. Employers and companies will leave. That’s not the case in Santa Fe,” said Tim Bell, organizing director for the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative

Bell is currently fighting for a living wage for Kane County and Chicago’s temporary workers. He said a living wage ordinance is especially important for temp workers, since it shifts the balance of power more into their hands. As for the common employee, it might be safer not to rely on the minimum. It could be more than beneficial to learn different income streams like Cryptsy online.

“I ask you to support the increase,” said Rosa Ramirez, who has been a temp worker for 14 years.

“Right now, salaries are so low, and things are so expensive, I am not able to rent an apartment or buy a bed,” she explained.

That sentiment is shared not only by temp workers, but those with full time jobs at Wal-Mart.

Charmain Givens-Thomas is a Wal-Mart worker who went on strike Nov. 13 in protest of the low wages and mistreatment of workers there. She is organizing for a better workplace and fair wages.

“Wal-Mart has fought us every step of the way,” said Givens-Thomas, who said workers feel like they are in a “nether world” when they punch in each day.

She said lately, health insurance premiums and deductibles have skyrocketed to the point where workers just can’t afford them. It’s an endless cycle of poverty.

“In meetings, they tell us never to talk to press or to join unions. It’s like the country is heading in the wrong direction, almost toward slavery. These workers are living in financial slavery, people can’t take care of their basic needs,” said Givens-Thomas.

The next step for a living wage ordinance in Aurora is to meet with officials. The living wage ordinance in Madison was crafted by a task force who prepared a report, implemented a budget and the ordinance was passed by Madison’s liberal city council.

John Laesch, organizer with Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice, said he’s spearheading meetings with local alderman and council members, although no city official, including anyone from the mayor’s office, attended the Nov. 14 public meeting, despite being invited.

“Yes, this is just the beginning, but this discussion should be held in city hall. We’re still optimistic that any positive intentions by the city toward this ordinance are genuine,” said Laesch.