POVERTY
Minimum wage + morals = living wage, advocates say

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Robert Pollin is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and co-director of the university's Political Economy Research Institute. He is co-author of The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy (The New Press, 2000). Read a June 2003 paper he wrote evaluating the impact of living-wage policies in a number of U.S. cities. Contact 413-577-0819, pollin@econs.umass.edu.
• Kenneth A. Couch is an associate professor of economics at the University of Connecticut. He has done research showing that increasing the minimum wage reduces the employment of some of the most vulnerable categories of workers, including teenagers and adults who lack a high school degree. Contact 860-486-4570, Kenneth.couch@uconn.edu.
• Richard B. Freeman is the Herbert S. Ascherman professor of economics at Harvard University in Cambridge. He also directs the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Freeman has written that research shows that increasing the minimum wages has little or no effect on the number of jobs available. Contact through Jennifer Amadeo-Holl, 617-588-0303, freeman@nber.org.

IN THE EAST
• Sheila D. Collins is a political science professor and director of the Master's Program in Public Policy and International Affairs at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. She is a co-founder of the National Jobs for All Coalition and author of Let Them Eat Ketchup: The Politics of Poverty and Inequality (Monthly Review Press, 1995). Read a 2005 interview with Collins, in which she advocates for full employment at fair wages, at UnitedMethodist.com. Contact 973-720-3424, collinss@wpunj.edu or Sheila.collins3@verizon.net.
• The Rev. Brian O'Shaughnessy, a Catholic priest, is executive director of the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition. The coalition is working to support minimum-wage campaigns in the state; its Web site summarizes the status of municipal living-wage efforts in New York state. Contact 518-213-6000 ext. 6294, briano@labor-religion.org.
• Raj Nayak is an associate counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. The center has provided legal support for efforts to raise the minimum wage around the country. Read a March 1, 2006, analysis by Nayak from the Center for American Progress Web site, in which he asserts that the federal government's unwillingness to raise the minimum wage has led to grassroots campaigns to do so at the state and local level around the country. Contact 212-992-8639 or 312-399-9904 (cell), brennan.center@nyu.edu.
• The Rev. Sandra L. Strauss, a Presbyterian minister, is director of public advocacy for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. The council worked to build support for Pennsylvania's new minimum-wage law, which involves a tiered series of increases – with the minimum wage rising to $7.15 an hour by summer 2007. Read a July 13, 2006, summary of the law from Inc.com. Contact 717-545-4761, strauss@pachurches.org.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Jason Jenkins is a program associate for the North Carolina Council of Churches. Jenkins worked with the "Let Justice Roll" campaign to increase the minimum wage in North Carolina. That legislation, which the Legislature approved 37-12, increases the state minimum wage by a dollar, to $6.15 per hour, beginning in January 2007. Contact 919-828-6501, jjenkins@nccouncilofchurches.org.
• Sara Shapiro is coordinator of South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice. This coalition of clergy and lay leaders worked to pass legislation – approved by a 72 percent margin in November 2004 – to raise the state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour and to tie it to the rate of inflation. Contact 305-576-5001 ext. 28, interfaith@hscdade.org.
• Peter Arcidiacono is an assistant professor of economics at Duke University in Durham, NC. Arcidiacono is the co-author of a 2004 study that concluded that increasing the minimum wage would decrease a worker's chances of finding employment. Contact 919-660-1816, psarcidi@duke.edu.

IN THE SOUTH
• Aaron Yelowitz is an associate professor of economics at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He has written about the "unintended consequences" of living-wage legislation – saying, for example, that paying higher wages can lead to the loss of other benefits for low-income families – and testified as an expert witness in 2004 regarding living-wage legislation in Santa Fe. Contact 859-257-7634, aaron@uky.edu.
• Stephen Copley, pastor of First United Methodist Church of North Little Rock, led a group called Give Arkansas a Raise Now, which was involved in a successful campaign in 2006 to increase the state minimum wage by $1.10 an hour, raising it to $6.25 per hour, effective Oct. 1. Read an April 11, 2006, story from the Arkansas News Bureau about the campaign, which involved a coalition of community, religious and labor groups. Contact 888-646-9243 or 501-835-2201, scopley438@aol.com.
• William P. Quigley is a law professor and director of the Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University in New Orleans. He is the author of Ending Poverty as We Know It: Guaranteeing a Right to a Job at a Living Wage (Temple University Press, 2003). Contact 504-861-5591, Quigley@loyno.edu.
• C. Melissa Snarr is an assistant professor of ethics and society at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville. She has done research on the role religion plays in the living-wage movement. Contact 615-343-0667, Melissa.snarr@vanderbilt.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST
• The Rev. Teresa Mithen is rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in St. Louis (the Episcopal ministry at St. Louis University) and co-chairwoman of the Faith Committee of the St. Louis Area Jobs with Justice campaign. The Jobs with Justice campaign is part of a coalition called Give Missourians a Raise, which has put "Proposition B" – an initiative to raise the Missouri minimum wage to $6.50 per hour, indexed for inflation – on the ballot in November 2006. Contact 314-772-3970, teresa@towergrovechurch.org.
• Amy Hanauer is executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit group in Cleveland that studies public policy issues related to economics. A coalition called Ohioans for a Fair Minimum Wage is trying to push for a November 2006 ballot initiative to raise the state minimum wage to $6.85 an hour. Read a May 2006 report Hanauer helped write on the benefits that a higher minimum wage provides for small businesses. And read a March 2006 analysis she prepared on the potential impact that raising the Ohio minimum wage could have – saying it could help 719,000 workers. Contact 216-931-9922, ahanauer@policymattersohio.org. On July 26, 2006, the Chicago City Council, by a 35-14 vote, passed an ordinance requiring large "big box" retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Home Depot to pay employees a living wage – $10 an hour by 2010, plus $3 an hour in benefits. Read an Associated Press story from July 27, 2006, published in the Washington Post.
• Alderman Joseph A. Moore sponsored the ordinance. Read a statement he made to the council on July 24, 2006, saying the legislation would bring workers dignity and self-respect. Contact 773-338-5796, ward49@cityofchicago.org.
• The Illinois Retail Merchants Association opposed the ordinance, saying it will hurt economic growth in the city and mean fewer job opportunities. Contact association president Dave F. Vite, 312-726-4600, dvite@irma.org.
• David Reynolds is a labor program specialist with the Wayne State University Labor Studies Center in Detroit. He has conducted several studies on living-wage laws and campaigns. Most recently he worked jointly with the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice to produce a November 2005 report looking at the experience of municipalities in Michigan with local living-wage ordinances. Contact 313-577-2197, aa2589@wayne.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Rebekah Friend is president of the AFL-CIO in Arizona and chairwoman of the Arizona Minimum Wage Coalition, which will try to pass a referendum in November 2006 to set a state minimum wage of $6.75 an hour, beginning in January 2007. Arizona currently does not have a state minimum wage. Contact 602-631-4488, rfriend@azaflcio.org.
• The Rev. Trina Zelle, a Presbyterian minister, is the lead organizer for Interfaith Worker Justice of Arizona, which is organizing support for the Arizona minimum-wage campaign. Contact 480-921-5439 or 480-522-4707, tzelle@iwj.org.
• An initiative to raise the Colorado minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.85 an hour will be on the ballot in November 2006; read a Rocky Mountain News story from Aug. 4, 2006.
• The Colorado Progressive Coalition supports the legislation. Contact co-executive director Bill Vandenberg, 303-866-0908, cpc@progressivecoalition.org.
• The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce opposes the legislation. Contact Tamra Ward, vice president for public affairs, 303-534-8500, tamra.ward@den-chamber.org.
• David Coss is mayor of Santa Fe, N.M. He supports Santa Fe's much-debated living wage legislation, which sets a minimum pay of $9.50 an hour at businesses with 25 employees or more, set to rise to $10.50 an hour in 2008. Read information from the city's Web site regarding the ordinance. Contact 505-955-6590, mayor@santafenm.gov.
• The Santa Fe Living Wage Network also supports the ordinance. Contact 505-983-9563, info@santafelivingwage.org.
• The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce has raised concerns about the impact of the ordinance on employment levels and job growth. Contact chamber president Simon Brackley, 505-988-3279 ext. 12, simon@santafechamber.com.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• David Neumark is a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California and editor of the journal California Economic Policy. Neumark, an economist, is co-author of a July 2005 analysis called "A Decade of Living Wages: What Have We Learned?" That report concludes that living-wage laws have increased salaries of the lowest-wage earners, but there have been some adverse effects too, and more policy changes are needed to help the most disadvantaged. Contact 415-291-4476, dneumark@uci.edu.
• The Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, a Lutheran pastor, is executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, an interfaith group from the Los Angeles area that advocates on behalf of the working poor. Contact 213-481-3740, info@cluela.org.
• The Rev. Vernon Wright, a United Church of Christ minister who is pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Helena, Mont., is a member of the Progressive Clergy Alliance. The alliance is working with a broader coalition, Raise Montana, to try to place on the ballot in November 2006 an initiative to raise the Montana minimum wage to $6.15 an hour. At a rally in July 2006, Wright said minimum-wage workers are "stranded on the road of this economy." Contact 406-442-9883.
• David Card is a professor of economics in the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California at Berkeley. He and a colleague, Alan B. Krueger, did research on the impact of an increase in the minimum wage in New Jersey on fast food restaurants. They found that a small increase in the minimum wage did not adversely affect employment levels. Contact 510-642-5222, card@econ.berkeley.edu.