Your View

Question:

Living wage

What do you think of the Moscow City Council's decision to rescind the living wage resolution?

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Your Views:

• score: 0     david wrote on 7/8/2010 11:44 am:

  A big step backward. Mostly symbolic, but a big step nonetheless. It was pretty well laid out that the resolutions are costing the city little money; it costs the city nothing for those working for the city. Why the need to repeal the resolutions and put out a negative message to the public? "Hey, folks, Moscow is regressing. Stay away!" The possibility of rescinding was not even mentioned in the agenda; that is not why the topic was raised.

• score: 0     sk-moscow wrote on 7/28/2010 10:12 am:

  The living-wage resolution was one way for the City to lead by example. Rescinding it demonstrates a short-sighted understanding of economics and community health. Contrary to the Daily News editorial, the living wage was not arbitrarily set by the City. The Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, for example, publishes reports on living wages and poverty.
  
  Some say that a wage is negotiated between the employer and employee; keep in mind that Idaho is a so-called "right to work" state, which is another way of saying that workers have no rights. Low-wage employees "negotiate" in the sense that they say "ok" when the employer says "This is what you get - take it or leave it."
  
  The living wage resolution did not compel other businesses to match the City's wages, so it was not punitive or detrimental to the business environment. It showed that the City recognizes (rather, used to recognize) cost of living as an important consideration when determining pay.

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