Fight for 15: The good fight

Pittsburgh is often championed as one of the most livable and affordable cities in the United States — but let’s unpack what this statement really means. Who exactly is Pittsburgh livable for?

Though the Demographia International’s 2015 11th Annual Housing Affordability Survey determined Pittsburgh to be the most affordable city in the country, Pittsburgh has a higher poverty ratethan the national average, with over 27 percent of households falling below the poverty level and only 5 percent of households considered wealthy. Poverty rates are even higher amongst our city’s minorities — a study by the Workforce Diversity Indicators Initiative reported that last year, “The average monthly income for African-American workers was $2,666, or a third less than whites who earn an average of $4,047 a month.”

Currently,minimum wage in Pittsburgh is at the federal standard of $7.25 an hour. Meanwhile, a living wage for a single parent in Pittsburgh would be $21.07 an hour, according to MIT calculations.

This works to fuel the vicious cycle of systemic poverty for those who are forced to work minimum wage jobs. Workers simply cannot use these jobs as economic stepping stones, as they can barely pay their bills, let alone save enough money to go to school.

Raising the minimum wage in Pennsylvania can help to end this cycle — as it has begun to do nationally.

Since 1968, the minimum wage has lost more than 8 percent of its purchasing power, after adjusting for inflation, leaving 3 million hourly wage workers stranded and struggling to make ends meet. When adjusted for inflation and increased worker productivity, the minimum wage in 1968 set at $1.60 an hour would be about $15 today.

In November 2012, 200 fast food workers in New York City began the now-national “Fight for 15” movement when they went on strike in protest of low wages, and in favor of a $15 minimum wage. The movement has been slowly garnering attention and popularity over the past three years. It reached its most visible point this past spring, when over 60,000 workers from a variety of economic sectors united with allies across 236 cities to demand a living wage and a union on April 15. Since then, the nation has been forced to confront the issue of minimum wage head on.

Pittsburgh was one of many cities to participate in strikes, rallies and marches on April 15 — and rightfully so. On this day, I was thrilled to be a part of more than 1,500 workers, students, professors and local activists who took to the streets of Oakland to protest the $7.25 minimum wage in Pittsburgh, blocking off more than three blocks of Forbes Avenue as we marched.

These protests have inspired wage increases in a number of cities strewn throughout the country. Cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, have passed legislation to raise their minimum wages to $15 an hour by 2017, 2018 and 2020 respectively. Emeryville, California has passed a law to implement a minimum wage raise to $16, effective 2019. Cities like New York, Portland and Washington have proposed laws to raise the minimum wage to $15, $10.68 and $15 respectively by 2019, 2017 and 2020.

Pittsburgh, tied to Pennsylvania’s minimum wage laws, has yet to join the legion of cities using the minimum wage as a tool to become more affordable, and livable, for its residents.

The recent New York City victory — in which the New York Wage Board made the decision to incrementally raise New York City’s fast food workers’ wages to $15 per hour — has set off a new wave of debates.

At the time, my brother and I had set upon the task of typing away furiously as we attempted to explain to his group chat that $15 per hour would not crash the economy  — and no, the money would not all be spent on drugs. The negativity toward this movement has created an opportunity for reflection — is the “Fight for 15” really the right thing for our workers and our economy?

The answer is a resounding yes. We need a minimum wage of $15 an hour. The proposed increase to $10.10 per hour President Obama made in his 2014 State of the Union address — which was followed by an Executive Order — is far too low and would still leave too many workers in poverty. And workers in poverty is bad for for all of us — taxpayers pay for their Medicaid and food stamps. Corporations need to take better care of their workers so taxpayers don’t have to.

The age-old argument against minimum wage hikes purports that higher labor costs will destroy our businesses and hurt our economy. This dusty argument has been resurrected by those against the “Fight for 15,” but it is simply not true.

In a piece that Forbes contributor Mike Patton wrote in 2014, he concluded that raising the minimum wage “would have very little effect on the U.S. economy.” He went on to state, “Therefore, I think this is more about class envy than anything else. And, like so many arguments today, you can’t overlook the political component.”

An economic study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley examined the effects of minimum wage increases in eight large cities and found that “none of the dire predictions…have come to pass.” And when the average fast food corporation pays its CEO $23.8 million a year, I think they can afford to pay their workers a living wage without breaking the bank.

Other voices, like that of Nigel Travis, the CEO of Dunkin Donuts, enjoy explaining how low-end jobs are stepping stones for teenagers — not jobs for adults. Unfortunately, Travis is sadly mistaken. While low-end jobs might have been intended for teenagers, they are not the ones filling them. More than 70 percent of workers are over the age of 20, and two-thirds of workers are supporting a family.

Workers, students and a professor spoke at a panel in the O’Hara Student Center last spring at one of my first “Fight for 15” events. One fast-food worker explained that because she could not afford to provide the life she wanted to give her son, she had given him up for adoption. A security guard explained the stress of trying to help her daughter pay for college. These women are worried parents, not teenagers trying to save up to buy their dream cars.

Still, there are those that think fast-food workers are “undeserving” of such a high wage — which touches upon an essential component of the “Fight for 15.” Though the “Fight for 15” passes economic tests with flying colors, I’ll let you in on a secret: the heart of the movement is not the intricacies of economic policy, but the undeniable worth of the worker.

Workers are human beings who should be able to afford to pay their rent and buy their groceries after a month of hard work. Thankfully, as they stand up and demand that their employers treat and pay them fairly, many agree, uniting to create the largest protests centered on low-wage workers in American history.

Write to Alyssa at aal43@pitt.edu.