[Livingwage] (no subject)

[Belden Fields]

Dear Folks,

The Living Wage is in real danger of being gutted.  Steve Beckett's  
thinking is to reduce the living wage to the official government  
poverty line of a family of three rather than a family of four .   
Four a family of four, it is $9.60/hr or approximately $20,000 per  
year.  What Beckett wants the County Board to consider  is  offering   
a starting salary for three of the lowest paid positions the Walmart  
wage, between $7 and $8, for newly hired people.  (The union contract  
would forbid that for present employees).  Beckett calls this  
thinking creatively.  He actually got the idea from Milwaukee and St.  
Louis, which among over 100 living wage set this lower level in the  
early 2000s.

There is no doubt that the Nursing Home is in financial trouble.   
When the first referendum to aid the nursing home was discussed in  
the county board, I asked the board to build in a safety cushion, not  
to cut it to bare bones because there would likely be unanticipated  
expenses and it is better to not have to go back to voters a second  
time.  Beckett, who voted against the living wage policy anyway,  
struck an agreement with Deb Feinen to ask for a minimal amount on  
the referendum.

We cannot permit a governmental body to offer its employees Walmart  
wages.  The Director of the Nursing Home, Andrew Buffenbarger, seems  
to support this lowering of labor costs.  He will be speaking at the  
League of Women Voters this Thursday at noon.  I urge anyone who can  
attend that meeting to do so and make clear to Mr. Buffenbarger that  
the public is against further depression of the wages of the lowest  
paid.  Mr. Buffenbarger and the League should be reminded that the  
League is a member of the Living Wage Association of Champaign County  
and that if the county board is going to come back to the public with  
another request for funds, it will encounter opposition if the price  
is to be paid by the lowest paid workers.

I will be at meeting in Chicago on Thursday, BUT ANYONE WHO CAN,  
PLEASE ATTEND THAT MEETING AND DELIVER THE M ESSAGE!

Thanks,

Belden.