Local and national champions of living wage campaigns will join forces here today with a 7 p.m. rally to kick off a 24-hour fast in support of wage increases affecting contract workers in Memphis and minimum-wage workers nationally.

Rev. Rebekah Jordan, executive director of the Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice, said that in spite of minimum wage increases for city workers in 2006 and county workers in 2007, many area workers still struggle.

"We must remember that there are still workers paid with taxpayer dollars who are living in poverty," Jordan said. "Our faiths call on us to ensure that all workers enjoy the fruits of their labor by earning a living wage."

Jordan helped form the Living Wage Coalition, including more than 40 area churches and other groups, in successful campaigns to raise the wages of city and county workers to $10 an hour for workers with benefits ($12 an hour for those with no benefits).

Those campaigns let some workers fall through the cracks, she said. Among them are contract workers for Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division. "Those are workers who trim trees, do janitorial work or some other contracted jobs that are not covered," said Jordan. She said the number of those workers fluctuates from season to season and also depends on specific projects under way at any given time.

Also, Jordan said city and county increases to a minimum of $10 an hour did not include provisions to index wages for inflation. "So, we're pressing to put a cost of living increase into the minimum wage so that we don't get stuck for 10 years."

Tonight's rally at Centenary United Methodist Church also is being organized by Rev. Jennifer Kottler, executive director of the Chicago-based national organization Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign. Kottler said minimum wage workers in America are poorer now than 40 years ago.

"If you look at the basic-needs budget for an individual, it takes about $10 an hour to provide a very basic standard of living," she said. The federal minimum wage now is $5.85 an hour and will increase to $7.25 an hour in 2009. "If the 1968 wage had kept up with inflation the minimum wage today would be $9.70 instead of $5.85, so you can see how much people have lost in 40 years."

Kottler said the differential between minimum wage workers and the top tiers of workers in America "is an incredibly growing gap" with the bottom 20 percent of workers losing buying power. At the other end of the spectrum, she said corporate chief executive officers made 50 times the salary of average line workers in 1980. "Now the average CEO makes 500 times what the average line worker makes."

Kottler said the living wage campaign is a national effort with 12 national sponsors and 17 local sponsors. It will be focused in Memphis to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s efforts on behalf of striking Memphis sanitation workers.

Jordan said fasting as part of the campaign is tied to religious observances that often include fasting during Lent.

Contact reporter Michael Lollar at 529-2793. To read more stories by him, go to commercialappeal.com, click on Contact Us at the top of the home page and click on his name.

 © 2008 Scripps Newspaper Group