Fighting For Fare Wages: The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Board of Equalization Member Judy Chu and LAANE Board of Directors Chair Maria Elena Durazo at the LAX Hilton demonstration.

By Sharon Kyle and Dick Price

A few months ago, Bill Rumble, President of the Northeast Democratic Club, wrote a piece on America’s vanishing middle class. It was one of our most read articles—not surprising considering that most of our readership is middle class and the topic is both unsettling and timely.

While the subject of the vanishing middle class has gained traction in recent years, there is an equally unnerving phenomenon that is keeping step even though it doesn’t get quite the same level of attention. That’s the plight of the working poor. Until recently, the term “working poor” did not have a place in the American lexicon. Now, it is commonly used to characterize an entire sector of our population. Like “jumbo shrimp,” “pretty ugly,” and other oxymorons, “working poor” is an accepted term in contemporary American vernacular. But, although the use of the term has only recently become commonplace, the economic trends and supporting policies that cause this phenomenon have been underway for quite some time.

Those of us who do not belong to the ranks of the working poor need to pay attention to what has been happening. Not so long ago, a single wage earner could support a family of five and also enjoy a pension and other benefits. This was considered normal—a “living wage,” so to speak, that provided a standard of living most Americans came to expect. But those days are gone, and more changes are coming down the pike.

According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)—an organization founded by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor during the Clinton Administration — America has failed to meet this standard for many years. In a recent report, EPI’s Thomas Kochan and Beth Shulman make the case that the U.S. has “relied on increased hours of paid work contributed by wives and mothers over the past two decades as the safety valve that kept society from imploding.” Furthermore, they contend that the challenge facing families today is that there are “no more hours available to further advance family income. Wages simply have to rise.”