{"id":30,"date":"2005-09-26T15:26:50","date_gmt":"2005-09-26T21:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/loco\/support-a-living-wage\/"},"modified":"2005-09-26T17:08:15","modified_gmt":"2005-09-26T23:08:15","slug":"support-a-living-wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/loco\/support-a-living-wage\/","title":{"rendered":"Support A Living Wage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week ago, Vern Raburn, CEO of Eclipse Aviation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, expressed <\/p>\n

his opinion about the upcoming vote on raising the minimum wage in Albuquerque (assuming he wrote it and it wasn’t written by the <\/p>\n

Chamber of Commerce or Karl Rove). I responded to his gall at taking public money and opposing the public good. Jon Knudsen put it best: <\/p>\n

“Ingrate” would seem like an appropriate term.<\/a><\/p>\n

A couple of days later, Raburn’s opinion piece was front page news. After <\/p>\n

all, the Journal pronounces him the “arguably the state’s most visible entrepreneur” — well, yes, “most visible” now that he’s on the <\/p>\n

front page. To Andrew Webb’s and the Journal’s credit, the story does eventually get around to the he-said-she-said of modern <\/p>\n

journalism, but the real message, as it so often is, is in the headline: “Bad for Business.” Mission Accomplished.<\/p>\n

Today, the <\/p>\n

Journal offers some balance by having an employer speak in favor of the change (excerpt below).<\/p>\n

When you go to vote, remember what <\/p>\n

Martin Luther <\/p>\n

King said<\/a> almost 40 years ago:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MARTIN LUTHER KING: “All labor has dignity. [Y]ou are reminding … the <\/p>\n

nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

ABQjournal: CEO: Minimum Wage Bill Access Clause Bad for Business<\/a><\/p>\n

Thursday, September 22, 2005, By Andrew Webb, Journal Staff Writer<\/p>\n

Eclipse Aviation CEO Vern Raburn says he would have <\/p>\n

bypassed Albuquerque if a proposed wage ordinance with its controversial<\/em> public access provision had been on the city’s books <\/p>\n

when he was looking to relocate his company in 2000….<\/p>\n

Raburn has joined other business leaders calling for defeat of the <\/p>\n

ordinance<\/strong>, which will raise the minimum wage and, they say, force employers to allow access to activists. …<\/p>\n

Supporters <\/p>\n

maintain that critics, among them a Chamber of Commerce-led initiative, are using the access clause to distract attention from their real <\/p>\n

concern\u2014 that businesses face having to pay higher wages.<\/p>\n

They contend opponents are exaggerating the effect of the access <\/p>\n

wording. …<\/p>\n

The sentence at issue is:<\/p>\n

“Every employer shall allow any member of the public access to non-<\/p>\n

work areas<\/em> of the employer’s business that are otherwise open to the public<\/em> or customers generally, such as parking lots, <\/p>\n

sidewalks, and pedestrian areas, to inform employees of their rights under this ordinance and other laws.” …<\/strong><\/p>\n

Henderson <\/p>\n

said the access clause was added to Albuquerque’s proposal because some businesses in Santa Fe had attempted to skirt that <\/p>\n

city’s minimum wage law<\/strong>
\n.
\n “We wanted to see something that would help hold businesses accountable to the <\/p>\n

law<\/strong>,” he said. …<\/p>\n

Opponents, he said, “are not only making lies about how this ordinance could be used, but <\/p>\n

they’re ignoring the fact that 40,000 hard working people in Albuquerque are in desperate need of a raise<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Please re-read that clause about access. In NO WAY does it allow the disruption opponents are using as a sham <\/p>\n

to defeat the ordinance. Further, supporters and councilors have offered to be more explicit in its restrictions. <\/p>\n

If Raburn <\/p>\n

genuinely believes that clause exposes his company to invasion, than he isn’t very smart. More likely, he opposes any interference in <\/p>\n

his business. Not the attitude you want in a guy who wants to fill the air with small jets. peace, mjh<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ABQjournal: Value Work by Paying Workers a Living <\/p>\n

Wage<\/a> By Mike Chandler, President, Valley Gases<\/p>\n

My lowest-paid, employee is paid $10.50 an hour. My decision to pay well <\/p>\n

above the federal minimum wage — and above the $7.50 that will be Albuquerque’s minimum wage if voters approve it Oct. 4 — is both a <\/p>\n

personal choice and a business decision.<\/p>\n

My employees need to be able to support their families on the wages they earn <\/p>\n

— and I know they cannot at the current minimum wage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This issue is not just about <\/p>\n

economics. It’s about values.<\/strong> It’s about whether we value work and the opportunities it should bring. And it’s about whether <\/p>\n

we value working parents and their efforts to carve out a better future for their children and, ultimately, for New Mexico. …<\/p>\n

Low-wage workers have very little bargaining power.<\/strong> The notion that anyone can refuse to take a low-wage job, or <\/p>\n

choose to quit one and move on to a better option, assumes that a better option actually exists. … Likewise, the option of going back <\/p>\n

to school to prepare for a better job is closed to too many working parents who are working more than full-time just to try to make ends <\/p>\n

meet.<\/p>\n

Working families in New Mexico work more hours each year than the national average \u2014 and more than full-time. Where are <\/p>\n

they going to find the time to pursue educational opportunities to prepare for a job that may not exist? …<\/p>\n

New Mexico <\/p>\n

labor is actually a bargain.<\/strong> Employers get to pay wages that are only 80 percent of the national average, while receiving <\/p>\n

productivity from New Mexicans that is 90 percent of the national average. A net gain for employers, and a net loss for employees.<\/p>\n

It’s now up to the citizens of Albuquerque to do the right thing by voting for an increase in the city’s minimum wage. Make work <\/p>\n

an opportunity for greater economic prosperity for more of our families.<\/p>\n

PS: searching Google for Vern Raburn, CEO of Eclipse Aviation <\/p>\n

in Albuquerque, New Mexico<\/a> yields over 400 pages. The top 100 links are mostly glowing PR, except for Democracy for New Mexico<\/a> (thanks for the link and nice comment) and my previous <\/p>\n

blog entry on the INGRATE (FUD you, Vern Raburn<\/a>). Wouldn’t it be great if a potential employee or investor saw in the top ten? Vern Raburn, CEO <\/p>\n

of Eclipse Aviation in Albuquerque, New Mexico puts his selfish interests ahead of those of the people of New Mexico even after all we <\/p>\n

have invested in him. He is an ingrate. mjh<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week ago, Vern Raburn, CEO of Eclipse Aviation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, expressed his opinion about the upcoming vote on raising the minimum wage in Albuquerque (assuming he wrote it and it wasn’t written by the Chamber of Commerce or Karl Rove). I responded to his gall at taking public money and opposing the … Continue reading Support A Living Wage<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-loco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}