Business leaders joined national Let Justice Roll campaign leaders and minimum wage ballot organizers from Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana and Ohio to analyze the historic minimum wage election victories and look ahead to future state campaigns and congressional legislation to raise the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage.
EXCERPTS from the teleconference:
-- SMALL-BUSINESS
OWNER, MISSOURI: Lew Prince, co-owner, Vintage Vinyl, St.
Louis:
"The ballot issue won in Missouri by a million votes, in a state where
the senate race was decided by about 60,000 votes, which shows just how across
the board the support was. My focus was on speaking to small businessmen. It was
easy to point out that the increase made straightforward economic sense: Simply
put, a minimum wage increase would mean an extra 150 or 200 bucks a month in the
hands of people who are going to spend it, and spend it here in Missouri. We
also reminded small business of something they already know: Keeping workers is
easier and cheaper than finding and training new ones -- you get lower
recruiting and training costs, you get decreased absenteeism, you get increased
worker morale. And every small business owner knows that the longer an employee
stays with you, the more they know about your business and the higher their
productivity. The long-range 'cost' of the minimum wage isn't a cost but rather
a benefit. And no one could look me in the eye and say $5.15 an hour is a living
wage."
-- VENTURE
CAPITALIST: Adnan Durrani, president of Condor Ventures, Stamford, CT;
venture partner, Blue Chip Venture Capital, Cincinnati, OH:
"From the point
of view of a venture capitalist, especially in Ohio. [where] we've invested in
over 120 companies, the economic case for minimum wage is closed and shut. It is
a sound business decision to increase the minimum wage. We've had way too low
wages for way too long. The facts are very clear versus the misinformation
that's been spread over the years. Ninety percent of each one-dollar increase in
the minimum wage directly impacts the economy. At the top income levels, only 2
percent trickles down into the economy. There's a direct lever in the minimum
wage increase. It increases employment. It increases retail sales. It increases
the distribution of income. It uplifts all social and economic factors both
locally and nationally."
-- REV. PAUL SHERRY,
NATIONAL COORDINATOR, LET JUSTICE ROLL CAMPAIGN and co-author, "A Just
Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Business and Our Future":
"Before the
election, we along with others succeeded in getting the minimum wage raised in
states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia and Arkansas.
Now, we've had six major new victories. This provides additional momentum for us
to move minimum wage forward at the federal level and in additional states. Let
Justice Roll and our partners succeeded in making minimum wage THE values issue
of the 2006 electoral campaign. It's an issue that brings people together across
all lines. We believe -- and people responded to this -- a job should keep you
out of poverty, not keep you in it."
-- REV. BOB
EDGAR, general secretary, National Council of Churches, former
congressman, and author, "Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the
Faithful Majority from the Religious Right":
"This election shows the moral
values of the nation are coming strongly back to real issues like lifting the
minimum wage and moving forward to a living wage. It shows that business
leaders, conservatives, moderates and progressives joined together and said if
we are going to ask people to work 52 weeks of the year to care for their
families they should not be showing up in the Salvation Army food kitchens or in
the homeless shelters. They should get enough wages to care for all of their
families. The faith community, the labor community, the business community, all
sectors of society have stood up and spoken out clearly, that the minimum wage
needs to be lifted."
-- ARIZONA:
Rev. Trina Zelle, lead organizer, Let Justice Roll Arizona, Tempe:
"People
have voted their values. Despite the ever changing objections to an increase in
the minimum wage by our opponents -- ranging from identity theft to economic
meltdown -- people of faith and conscience understand that this is an issue of
basic fairness -- hard work should keep you out of poverty not keep you in it.
LJR educated and mobilized the larger faith community at every step on an every
level of this campaign -- from initial petition gathering, to voter education to
get out the vote activities. The partnerships and alliances that have been
formed will continue to function as we continue to work for economic justice for
all."
--
COLORADO: Terri McMaster, leader in Let Justice Roll Colorado, and
director, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry, Denver:
"It was no surprise that
Colorado voters wanted to pass a minimum wage increase. The big surprise was the
huge amount of money the restaurant and resort industries were willing to spend
to fight it, with a lot going to TV ads railing against the idea of putting
automatic adjustments for inflation in our Constitution. They even ran a TV ad
with a cartoon Moses character crying out to God to intervene so we don’t
'chisel this into stone.' It was clearly our intensive grassroots effort, in
which the Let Justice Roll campaign was one of the leaders, that convinced
voters that raising the minimum wage was the right thing to do, and kept
big-money advertising from winning the day. The Let Justice Roll campaign here
included a broad, diverse coalition of faith communities, with the support of
more than 20 denominations and religious organizations, and Christian, Jewish
and Muslim faith leaders."
--
MISSOURI: Rev. Audrey Hollis, lead organizer, Let Justice Roll
Missouri, St. Louis:
"I had never worked on a campaign that engaged so many
different people, organizations and congregations. This was something we knew
right away would make a difference in our communities. As Let Justice Roll
coordinator, we were able to engage 2,000 congregations across Missouri to
participate in this campaign. Raising the minimum wage in Missouri gives hope
that change in other areas of economic justice is possible." Congratulations and
many thanks to all our coalition partners -- Give Missourians a Raise, Jobs with
Justice, the AFL-CIO, Missouri Pro-Vote, SEIU, UFCW, ACORN, Teamsters, all of
our faith partners and all the good people of Missouri for voting 76 percent in
favor of raising the minimum wage."
-- MONTANA:
Doug Mitchell, campaign manager, Raise Montana, Helena:
"The Montana
minimum wage initiative passed with roughly 73 percent of the vote -- a strong
bipartisan statement that is going to send a very clear message to Washington
D.C., that even quote 'Red states' like Montana stand firmly behind workers. Key
to Montana's campaign -- a volunteer-driven, very low budget campaign -- was
encouraging people to speak in their own voices. This was not a divisive
campaign but rather a campaign that brought people together. That's why
Montanans from every single legislative district and every county voted
overwhelmingly in favor of raising the minimum wage and taking politics out of
it in the future by providing cost of living adjustments."
-- OHIO:
Katy Heins, lead organizer, Let Justice Roll Ohio, Cincinnati:
"The
victory for minimum wage in Ohio can be attributed to a grassroots effort lead
by a coalition of groups. Let Justice Roll Ohio had a truly interfaith, multi
denominational, urban, suburban and rural effort in Ohio -- also bringing in
many of the evangelical voices looking for a broader social agenda in Ohio and
the nation. CNN exit poll information showed that the majority of all 'church
goers' in Ohio from weekly to intermittent attendance voted in favor of the
minimum wage."
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