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By THE NEW MEXICAN
December 14, 2005
Tonight , the Santa Fe City Council must decide
whether to allow the next step of a planned minimum wage increase to take
place, a jump from $8.50 an hour to $9.50. Not to drag it out, but we
recommend councilors postpone this decision until they can truly digest
the justcompleted
University of New
Mexico study on the effects of Santa
Fe’s minimum-wage law. A more comprehensive
report will be completed in May of 2006, and until then, the city should
sit tight.
At $8.50 an hour, we have learned, most businesses are adapting and the
higher wages are helping the city’s lowestpaid
workers. But some business owners are afraid that at $9.50 an hour, and
especially at $10.50, they will be out of business .
Santa Fe’s economy needs a rest
from tinkering.
While that’s happening, we urge both supporters and opponents of the
living-wage law to sit down together and brainstorm .
Making a dollar more an hour doesn’t help workers much if health-care
benefits are slashed or profit-sharing is stopped or if rents rise or
grocery prices skyrocket.
This problem of low wages and high costs in Santa Fe
is complex. It’s right and just that employers
pay decent wages. It’s also right and just that small-business owners
don’t lose their shirts paying wages they can’t afford — and too many of
them are afraid of just that.
Wages are up. That’s a good outcome of this battle for justice. Now let’s
explore other ways to make Santa Fe
more affordable — together.
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