Working poor need a living wage
By William G. Sinkford and Charlie Clements
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/26/06
Copyright (c) William G. Sinkford and Charlie Clements

There are more than 300 verses in the Bible that express God's concern for the poor. The principle of tzedakah, or "charity," is central to Judaism. Zakat, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, dictates that we provide for those in need. Gandhi called poverty the "worst form of violence."

Generosity, charity and basic kindness to others are fundamental tenets of each of the world's major religions, but so, too, is the call for justice. We know that Martin Luther King Jr. took the inspiration for his call to "Let justice flow like water" directly from the Book of Amos.

Given how universal these principles are, we as people of faith are appalled by the fact that, amidst such plenty, more than 650,000 Missourians live in poverty, nearly 230,000 of them children. These are the working poor, the people who live each day with little hope of getting ahead in the struggle to survive.

We 5,000 delegates of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, having gathered in St. Louis last week for our national convention, are moved to speak to this injustice. For 171 years, Unitarian Universalists have had a congregation in St. Louis bearing witness to the needs and the rights of the city's less privileged residents. We are proud to give continuity to this heritage with our presence here these past few days.

With the help of our local members, we have had the honor of seeing St. Louis through the eyes of some of its working people. Their energy keeps the economy humming. They are raising the next generation of St. Louisans, yet they live every day in poverty, toiling away for an average wage of $7 per hour in the hope that their children might share in society's plenty.

We did not acquire our commitment to a just wage when we arrived in St.
Louis. UUSC's economic justice program supports the struggle for economic rights from Santa Fe, N.M., to the backstreets of Nairobi, Kenya.

As so often is the case, those who received us in St. Louis have done so as ambassadors of hope. The very janitors and other workers with whom we met are working together with community supporters of the local Jobs with Justice coalition and others as part of an unprecedented effort to help win better wages and health care coverage for workers throughout the St. Louis region. If successful, it could help thousands of low-wage workers in the greater St. Louis area earn a better living for themselves and their families.

This November, Missourians may have the opportunity to vote for a ballot
measure that would raise the state's minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 per hour. It has been nine years since low-wage workers in the state had an increase in their pay. The current minimum wage is a poverty wage. A full-time minimum wage worker makes only $10,712 a year. For a single mom with two children, that is nearly $5,000 below the poverty line. This initiative wouldn't solve all of her problems, but it would give that mother and thousands like her a little more help as she struggles to make ends meet.

In 1964, the UUA adopted a resolution stating that "poverty, in the midst of
plenty, [is] intolerable to the religious conscience and incompatible with our principles of economic justice." Forty-two years later, these words are as profound and as central to our articles of faith as they were when they were first stated. As people of faith, it is our responsibility to turn these words into action.

Rev. William G. Sinkford is president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Charlie Clements is president of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

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