Covering the Basics

Living Wage Campaigns Put Many Workers Above the Poverty Line

By Dave Arnold

When I was trying to decide what sessions to attend at the Illinois State Education Support Professional (ESP) Conference, I noticed one I hadn't seen in my many years of attending such conferences. It was titled, "Fighting for a Living Wage."

Also, I didn’t know the facilitator, Jorge Rivera. Taking a chance, I signed up. This workshop turned out to be one of the best I’d ever attended.

Rivera immediately struck me as a person of authority, sincerity, enthusiasm and intelligence. Rivera, who is with the National Education Association’s Collective Bargaining and Member Advocacy Department, explained that the information we were about to receive was compiled from lifelong experiences of organizing groups for better wages. Most of his lessons could not be found in books, videos or anywhere else.

Hard Won Experience

Rivera's knowledge and experience began when he was 13 years old and helping to organize farm workers in his native Chile. This was during the time of General Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship, which was not labor-friendly. At age 16, Rivera was arrested and thrown in jail for defending working people.

Fortunately, he survived several similar episodes under the Pinochet regime before moving to the United States. Pinochet was eventually held accountable for human rights abuses and other crimes.

At the conference, Rivera focused on workplace conditions of ESP. He said it is generally assumed that ESP will not become wealthy from their employment. However, they are entitled to a living wage.

Sometimes, when enough people are not earning a fair wage, they get organized and start a Living Wage Campaign. Rivera described such a campaign.

What is a living wage campaign?

Living wage campaigns are grassroots movements aimed to obtaining wages for working people that are commensurate with expenditures of a family who lives above the poverty line.

A Living Wage is generally considered to be sufficient earnings to cover basic needs such as, food, housing, transportation, utilities, childcare, taxes, and healthcare.

What constitutes a poverty line rate of pay?

The poverty line for a family of four has been determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be $18,400, and $15,260 for a family of three.

What hourly rate of pay constitutes a living wage?

The living wage varies from region to region throughout the country. It is often based on 2,080 hours worked yearly. Some ESP work fewer hours.

The  Economic Policy Institute (EPI) gathers regional data for the cost of food, utilities and other basic necessities and produces a living wage scale for specific regions of the country based on that research. The organization’s Web site has living wage rates for the entire country. After accessing their Web site, look for “basic family budget calculator” to tabulate your living wage.

Example of living wage for a rural Illinois family of three (one parent and two children):

• Monthly housing                  $392
• Monthly food                        $351
• Monthly child care                $722
• Monthly transportation        $197
• Monthly health care             $242
• Monthly other needs            $230
• Monthly taxes                       $180
• Monthly total                        $2,314
• Annual total                          $27,768

This is fascinating information. Especially when you consider that para professionals, who make up the majority of ESP, average $15,348 in earnings per year nationwide. This is just above the poverty line of $15,260.

Community Involvement

A school district should be ashamed at paying poverty-line wages. It should also be an embarrassment to the community. This might be why school districts are getting by with underpaying ESPs and others. The community isn’t aware that school employees live below or close to the poverty line.

Rivera encouraged us to educate the community about what school employees earn. More important, he said we should get community leaders, organizations and others to support our cause.

The above-mentioned information is only an inkling of what Rivera presented. If you get the opportunity to attend one of his sessions, by all means go for it. I’m sure that afterwards you will look at bargaining in a more enlightened and realistic light. 

(Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois.)

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NEA or its affiliates.