Workers Left
Out of Wage Debate
By
Gloria Mendoza
.
The working class people of
Coss met with the Chamber of Commerce, which took the city
to court to try and keep the living wage ordinance from becoming a reality.
Also participating in the talks was the Santa Fe Alliance,
which should be representing the small businesses so that they do not have to
pay $9.50 per hour (business with fewer than 25 employees have so far been
exempt).
The Living Wage Network, whose director was the campaign
manager for Coss during the last election, and the labor unions, which are
supposed to fight for higher wages at all costs, also participated.
The compromise: to abandon the current living wage ordinance
mandate to raise the minimum to $10.50 per hour next year.
For the sake of this compromise, small businesses are now
going to be included under the ordinance and forced to pay $9.50 per hour— so
forget about keeping small businesses alive. Those who participated in the
compromise, with the exception of the Chamber of Commerce because it was
against the living wage from the start, should be
ashamed of selling out a better life for working-class people of this town.
When there is an amendment or any change to an ordinance,
isn't the process supposed to be that a city councilor brings the change
forward at a meeting for discussion? How in the world did this change to the
ordinance end up in a closed meeting for negotiation with the business
community and only certain organizations representing certain groups of working
class people?
According to the current ordinance, changes "shall not
come into effect until approved by ordinance of the governing body after review
of the impact of previous minimum wage increases, relevant studies and any
appropriate data." This closed-meeting compromise had nothing to do with
studies and data. "Movida" would be a more
appropriate description for the negotiations, which produced an "ordinance
amending code." That's a nice legal name for a piece of legislation that
will ultimately kill further wage increases. The six city councilors who signed
up in support of it now want us to attend public hearings after they have
committed to support killing off the living wage ordinance.
Before developers can address the City Council on land use
issues, they are required to have an Early Neighborhood Notification meeting.
Why was there not the equivalent of an ENN meeting regarding wages? Councilors
and the mayor are not allowed to meet and discuss an issue which is up for a
vote with constituents, yet the mayor and four councilors, in all their glory,
met with the media and these special interest groups to publicly slap in the
face each and every working-class person in this town with their brainstorm to
stop the $10.50-an-hour wage increase.
I can just see the headlines "Santa Fe Sides With Businesses to Stop Wage Increases." Or maybe Univision will have this headline: "El Concilio de Santa Fe Se Vendió."
The latter would probably be more appropriate.
The council should be ashamed that they fell for the oldest
political game in history. When the first ordinance was introduced by
then-councilors Jimmie Martinez and Frank Montaño,
most of the councilors did not support it. Then Matt Ortiz watered it down and
it received approval. Now all of a sudden Coss, the self-proclaimed champion of
the living wage, is selling out to the business community. There are no longer
any champions of the living wage. The only champions of the working class
people are those who go to work and try to survive in this town week after
week.
The eyes of working-class people are upon their councilors
and mayor. The current law, drafted by them and sponsored by all of them,
states that in January 2008, workers for larger businesses will get paid $10.50
an hour unless it's proven that the previous raises
hurt the economy of
Sponsoring, amending and voting "yes" to put a
dead end to the living wage should be political suicide and workers should
stand united for $10.50 per hour.