Independent Opinion
Time to increase the minimum wage

 

When it comes down to it, there's only one reason why area business owners should be supporting hiking the minimum wage here to $7.50 an hour it's the morally right thing to do. A lot of the discussion on the issue so far has centered on the economic impact, but, at its heart, it's all about morality and doing what's right.

Yes, we have heard all of the "sky is falling" stories - businesses will go bankrupt, teen-agers will find their job market evaporate, prices will have to increased, and customers will start flocking to other cities in this market area where the prices are lower. They are all bunk.

And some of these things may happen in the short run but things will get back to normal and people, including those who have been bitterly opposed to the $7.50 an hour wage, will discover that not only is their business still profitable but the area economy has improved and, most important of all, they have shown they really care about the welfare of their employees.

Paying an employee, even one that is starting out, $5.15 an hour only brings them an annual salary of $11,000. It's ridiculous for business owners, especially those who promote family values, to say that is enough for a family to survive. It's just immoral to pay people $5.15, they just can't live on that.

What it actually means is that the breadearners in the family have to work two and sometimes three jobs in order to bring in enough money to pay the bills. Parents are thus gone most of the time, leaving their children to fend for themselves or be watched by others.

It's morally right thing to pay a decent wage. What business owners who oppose it are really saying is that they are afraid of pseudo reduced profits, plain and simple.

Let's be honest. Raising the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour will not bankrupt companies.

We know of one company in town with about 100 employees that looked at its own payroll when all of this talk about increasing the minimum wage started in Santa Fe The owner discovered that 12 employees were making less than $7.50 an hour and he quietly began increasing their wages to where only two are now under that mark. Those two will shortly see their wages go to $7.50 an hour.

The increase cost that company about $30,000 a year and the owner says he has no regrets because its the morally right thing to do. Another company we know about, one of the biggest in the city, has no employees who make less than $7.50 an hour. Again, this company is not making a big thing about it.

Area restaurant owners have been among the most vocal in their opposition to the proposed minimum wage increase, saying that they just won't be able to increase their wages without sharply increasing their prices and that's going to hurt business.

Oh, bull.

In the first place, most of their workers probably make more than $5.15 an hour so they won't be jumping $2.35 an hour. Secondly, paying more to employees will force business owners to become more efficient. What's wrong with cutting waste?

Yes, many of these businesses will take the simplified solution to increased wages by reducing the numbers of their employees so that the percentage of their gross they pay out in salaries will remain the same. If they do, we know that most will be shortly rehiring some of the people they laid off because they will discover they are losing customers because of deteriorating service.

We agree that of all of the doomsday scenarios we have heard, the one that is most likely to occur is that teenagers looking for summer jobs will find it a lot harder to find one. It makes sense, in this business climate, for business owners to look for someone with experience if they are being forced to pay someone just starting out $7.50 an hour.

By most estimates, according to the New York Times, 28 percent of those who make less than $7.50 an hour in the United States are teenagers. If the minimum wage is increased to $7.50 an hour, many of them will find it impossible to find summer jobs. But so what. What's more important - giving a teenager a job so they can pay $140 for the latest sneaker fad or providing loyal workers a decent wage and a chance to spend more time with their families?

For many business owners in this area, cutting costs and improving efficiency is not something they do well. They don't seem to have the cognitive ability to see how their company can improve. But is this a reason to make their employees suffer by being forced to live on wages that won't allow them to keep up with rising costs in gasoline, utility bills and rents? Of course it isn't. Yet, they raise their prices and salary.

Let's be realistic. Business owners are scared of anything that smacks of increased costs because they basically don't know how to cope but coping is the name of the game in this type of economy. Let's put family value over greed for a change and do the morally right thing to do - support a minimum wage increase to $7.50 an hour.

This is not an economic issue.

Unfortunately, we don't think the decent wage issue is something our city council has the ability to discuss and make an intelligent decision. We courage business owners to do the right thing and the city council to offer only their comments.