A Fair Wage is Our Social Responsibility

By Jerry Lee
The Tennessean, 7/24/08

If one believes in capitalism, then one believes that "all wealth is derived from labor." Don't all workers deserve to share in the fruits of their labor? Not as an entitlement, but as an example of business accepting a social responsibility to care for their employees.

The Minimum Wage Act of 1938 set a floor that would provide a "living wage" for those low-skilled and service-sector workers who were easily exploited. It allowed employers in those sectors to predict and plan for future economic outlooks. As a result, those workers were better able to provide for their families. Periodic increases in the minimum wage helped keep up with inflation. Two or more workers in a family could earn enough to raise their standard of living, and perhaps send a child to college.

Through the years, the minimum wage has been eroded by inflationary forces, and lack of legislation to raise it regularly. Before the raise that passed in January 2007, there had not been an increase since 1996, the longest span since its inception. Inflation had reduced the minimum wage to 1955 levels in real dollars. Realizing the need to address the lack of federal legislation, many states had passed minimum-wage laws by 2007. There is a continuing effort to pass a constitutional amendment requiring a minimum-wage statute in Tennessee.

No negative effect on jobs

Opponents of the minimum wage say that it will cause job losses. The states that recently raised theirs found just the opposite. "Raising the minimum wage seems to have no negative effect on jobs," said Mike Wald of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Atlanta.

A conservative observer told me in 2006 that the federal minimum-wage bill would pass in 2007 because it was politically correct. My sincere belief is it passed because it was morally correct. Today, in Nashville, there are people living on the street who have full-time minimum-wage jobs. Some are working more than one job, and still cannot rise above their condition. Many workers cannot find higher-paying jobs because they lack the education or skills training required, or they have no transportation to go where better-paying jobs are located.

In America, doesn't everyone who works hard deserve to be compensated fairly with a living wage? Don't they deserve to live in dignity and retire in dignity because they can afford health care and the necessities of life?

America's workers are the most productive in the world; yet, their wages have stagnated, while productivity and profits have risen dramatically. Today, inflation is rising at its fastest rate in the past 25 years. We should establish a fair minimum wage, and depoliticize it by raising it periodically to keep up with the rate of inflation.

It is time to return to the values that made America the greatest nation in the world — fair compensation for a fair day's work, even for the "least of these." Everyone who works hard should have the opportunity to earn a living wage and share in the American dream.

Jerry Lee is president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council.

Copyright 2008 Jerry Lee