Ending a Minimum Existence
By William Lucy
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was ratified and implemented in 1994, it was hailed by its proponents as a watershed event that would promote exports and raise our standard of living.
However, it has turned out just as the American labor movement predicted. America’s trade deficit has grown, Canadian companies fled across borders in search of cheap labor and Mexican workers have seen their wages depressed.
The productivity of the average Mexican worker has increased by over 12 percent while incomes have dropped by almost 22 percent.
One expert on trade has asked, “How can a Mexican worker get ahead while making 22 percent less?”
AFSCME has been asking a similar question since it was founded. How are workers supposed to get ahead if they are paid wages that don’t even get them over the poverty level?
In 1997, 35.6 million Americans were living in poverty. Even when you consider that a good portion were either unemployed or dependent children, we are still forced to conclude that millions of Americans were earning poverty-level wages. And almost every single one of those people did so in jobs that do not offer benefits such as health insurance or a pension.
This problem is being addressed in cities all over this country by the “living wage” movement — a movement AFSCME was instrumental in starting.
Driven by a coalition of labor unions, religious leaders and economic and social justice advocates, this movement has convinced city councils in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit, St. Paul, Oakland, San Jose, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Jersey City to enact living wage ordinances. These laws basically require the city government, any company that provides services on behalf of the city or any entity that receives municipal grants to pay workers a living wage — as opposed to the woefully inadequate minimum wage.
Recently in San Jose, Calif., the city council passed a law requiring companies to pay their employees at least $9.50 an hour with health benefits, or $10.75 an hour to workers denied health benefits.
There is no doubt that city councils who are taking heed are moving in the right direction, not only for workers but for AFSCME members. That’s because living wage ordinances make privatization less attractive by forcing privateers to compete on a level playing field when it comes to wages. We must continue to play a leading role in expanding this movement.
The first thing we can do to expand this movement is to get involved and stay involved in the union. As union members, we have the privilege and right in almost all cases to flex our collective power at the bargaining table to get the wages and benefits we need to support our families. We can continue to grow this union so that we can offer the benefits of union representation to people whose economic and social rights in the workplace are ignored.
The second thing we can do is get involved in politics at the grassroots level. While I know that most people are cynical about politicians and their usefulness, the fact remains that those politicians make the laws by which we must live our lives. That means that we must get involved at the local level to encourage our city councils, county boards and state legislatures to pass living wage laws that will help lift people out of poverty.
The third thing we can do is to continue to advocate trade policies that take into account wages and environmental standards in other countries. We must work to prevent what has happened in Mexico as a result of the NAFTA. As we continue to become a more globalized society, we must be aware that the wages in Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia and every other country have a direct effect on the wages that Americans earn. We must continue to level the playing field for workers around the world, not just in America.
As union members dedicated to the betterment of all workers, we must take up the mantle of the living wage movement.
