Saturday, July 14, 2007

Changes to 'Living Wage' Law Are Proposed

By Gabriela C. Guzman
Journal Staff Writer
    It's better to cover more workers rather than have just a few benefit from a higher wage.
    That's the sentiment of some "living wage" advocates in the wake of some proposed changes to Santa Fe's living wage ordinance that were introduced on Thursday.
    But business owners warn of the possible negative effects the changes could have on the local economy.
    The amendments call for requiring all businesses to adhere to the city's living wage ordinance, rather than just those with 25 or more employees, but do away with a scheduled increase in the required wage level by $1 an hour next year.
    Marcela Diaz, executive director of the immigrant rights group Somos Un Pueblo Unido, said many immigrant workers complained their employers were skirting the city ordinance by hiring fewer than 25 employees.
    The current ordinance requires employers with 25 employees or more to pay the "living wage" of $9.50 an hour.
    Diaz said some employers would also register their businesses as separate entities— even though they had more than 25 employees within the city— to circumvent the law.
    "We have to pay the same rent. Why can't we make the same amount as everyone else?" Diaz said was the complaint many workers would make to Somos.
    Diaz said the proposed amendments represent the best compromise that could be brokered between the city, local businesses and the Living Wage Network to cover more workers, Diaz said.
    "I'm not saying it's the best solution for workers," Diaz said, noting that a number of workers will have to wait a few more years before seeing their hourly wage reach $10.50.
    The original ordinance called for the $10.50-an-hour rate to go into effect in January.
    Instead, an annual cost-of-living increase to the living wage would go into effect in January and for every following year.
    "We have to keep working for better wages in Santa Fe," Diaz said.
    Many small-business owners say they would have to pay a higher wage in Santa Fe even if there wasn't a living wage because the market demands it.
    "We are all fighting for the same workers. Of course, they will go to work where they can make more money," said Roland Richter, the owner of Joe's Diner on Rodeo Road.
    Making the living wage ordinance apply to all businesses will make employers tighten their belts and most likely hire fewer employees, he said.
    Richter and Mariannah Amster, the manager and buyer at Maya's, a boutique near the Plaza, said a salary schedule for trained and untrained workers should be included in the changes to the ordinance.
    "We think it is a good thing that all businesses be included, but I think we need to look at a tiered system," Amster said.