At the city of Oshkosh's annual Martin Luther King dinner/awards ceremony, UW Oshkosh Chancellor Rick Wells did something not often seen at the event: he took a position completely consistent with what MLK stood for. Wells talked about poverty and homelessness as moral issues and then--get this--he actually talked about the need for LIVING WAGES. Influenced by Jon Gertner's "What is a Living Wage?" (may need registration) essay in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Wells provided data on the purchasing power of the minimum wage today compared to the late 1960s, and he noted that the US Congress has raised its own salary by more than $20,000 since the last federal minimum wage increase.Best of all, Wells challenged the audience to consider the urgency of living wages in light of the Oshkosh Northwestern's feature on poverty in the community. Back in December in an update I said something similar in response to those articles:
Poverty is of course related to economic conditions and federal policies, as the articles suggest. But there is much that local government does to contribute to the problem, and much that they can do to solve it. Would the Northwestern, for example, support a living wage ordinance for the city of Oshkosh? Most cities that have enacted such ordinances have seen reductions in poverty without harming small businesses (they've actually helped small businesses because people making living wages have more money to spend).
Gertner's essay, by the way, includes a wealth of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of living wages on local economies.
So what about i t? Will the Oshkosh Northwestern heed the Chancellor's call and begin to editorialize in favor of living wages? Or will they continue to send staff to the MLK celebration for one evening in January while upholding a narrow chamber of commerce ideology the other 364 days? And what about the Oshkosh Common Council? Is this going to be another case of "we share Dr. King's dream--just don't ask us to stand for anything that might actually improve the lives of our citizens?"
It's not often that a person in a prominent position like Chancellor Wells takes a stand for basic social and economic justice. I'm betting that his plea will fall on deaf ears in the mainstream media and on the council. I hope I'm wrong, but I'd be shocked if I am.
8 comments:
Hi Tony, While I appreciate Chan Wells stand and comments on a "living wage". I would like to say that talk is cheap, it is the conviction of ones words put into action that speak to me. I bring this up because, this same Chancellor has continued to support the TIF(ing) of the City of Oshkosh, the Five River project is a prime example. Why is this relevant you ask? Because you can't keep talking about a "living wage" and stand by and watch good paying jobs with benefits leave Oshkosh only to be replace with historically low paying non benefit associated service industry jobs like the Five River hotel/Condo/Convention center/water park/whatever else they can heap into this TIF.
I would also like to ask the Chancellor how he feels he can ask for support from local elected officials (using taxpayers dollars) to help pay for the Sports complex at UW-O? Was this not suppose to be done with all private dollars? That certainly was the story we were told at the onset of the project. Again this kind of action, is NOT in keeping with concern for the local poor, the overburden taxpayers, or real sound eceonomic development that can eliminate poverty, or hopefully sustain a strong local economy with good paying jobs, benefits.
I will be interested to hear your take on this Tony and others.
Thank you
Melanie Bloechl
Well you won't get any argument from me about TIFs. City planners and developers always claim that TIFs will bring good jobs to a communitybut the law does not require that created jobs meet any standard, and so the claim is empty. Maybe Dr. Wells should call for city to adopt more stringent TIF procedures requiring those requesting a TIF to pledge that the development will produce family supporting jobs.
But I still think it's valuable for someone like Wells to make a public statement in support of living wages. If nothing else, he demonstrated to the Gannett and Chamber of Commerce representatives in attendance that not all local executives are amoral toadies unwilling to deviate from the party line even on MLK Day.
I'm going to wait for an official proposal for taxpayer dollars for the sports complex before commenting on it.
Thanks Melanie. --Tony
Wells is a Chamber of Commerce board member.
You always talk about how evil the Chamber is, but do you even know who you are talking about?
Sean Fitzgerald (who you were very comlimentary to when you interviewed) and Jay Supple (who you said should run the amphitheater) are also Chamber board members.
Are all three of them your enemies? Your rhetoric seems to say they are.
Wells' status as a chamber board member makes his statement that much more important. Will chamber representatives get behind his statement? Don't hold your breath.
I wanted the city of Oshkosh to run the amphitheatre. But given that that option was not on the table, I thought the Supple's would have been more community focused than PMI. Turns out that PMI has an interesting approach to "community focus": price the community out of using the structure.
Has anyone noticed the latest trend among big business apologists? Accuse the critics of calling them "evil." It's a not-so-clever way of avoiding any substantive discussion of the values of the institution that is supposedly being called "evil." A way of dodging the issues.
Maybe I should start using that strategy. If a student complains about a grade: "Well, you just think I'm evil," I'll say. If Rieckman takes a cheap shot at me in an editorial, I'll write a letter to the editor: "The Northwestern just thinks I am evil." Hey, this might work!
For what it's worth, Sean Fitzgerald and I are pretty good friends. He's not thin skinned and he actually invites criticism. That's an admirable quality. -Tony
From my previous post: "Will chamber representatives get behind his [Wells']statement? Don't hold your breath."
Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Casper from today's Oshkosh Northwestern:
"The minimum wage, whenever it's been discussed, really hasn't been an issue"
Tony,
Did you notice how the Northwestern story today talked about minimum wage instead of living wage? They are not the same thing, right?
no, most definetly not!
For one thing: minimum wage is only the smallest amound they have to pay you when you get a job.
A living wage refers to having enough to live on.
For example, Walmart pays their "sales asscociates" $8.23 an hour and about $13,861 in a year.
The poverty line ( where you simply cannot make ends meet) was $14,630.
Wal Mart doesnt pay a living wage then.
Does this help you?
ps: I got the info off of http://www.wakeupwalmart.com
Dear Anonymous,
Angel answered the question much better than I could. Thanks Angel! scc
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