Living Wage Laws

To combat growing economic inequality and the inadequacy of low wage jobs for working families, 1199SEIU has been part of a broad coalition that supports living wage laws.

Since 1968, the real value of the federal minimum wage, which stands at $5.15, has eroded by 42 percent. The federal minimum wage would be worth $8.89 today if Congress had consistently updated it to keep pace with inflation.

In response, many cities and counties across the nation have enacted local living wage laws that require employers to pay wages that are above federal or state minimum wage levels.   Workers covered by these laws are usually employed by businesses that have contracts with a city or county government or those who receive economic development subsidies from the locality.  The intent of the law is to enable hardworking, lower-income families to make ends meet and to ensure that public dollars, such as city contracts and economic development grants, are not used to create jobs that pay wages so low that workers live in poverty.

To date, 130 cities and counties nationwide have enacted living wage laws, including New York City, Westchester and Suffolk counties. New York City’s living wage law, passed in 2002, directly benefited over 50,000 1199SEIU homecare workers by requiring that homecare agencies, operating under contract with the city through the Medicaid program, pay workers a living wage.

To learn more about this, visit http://www.livingwagecampaign.org/