City Council Hears Living Wage Proposal

At the start of Monday night's city council meeting, members of the Cambridge Campaign for a Living Wage presented councilors with a proposal for an ordinance that would set the minimum wage at $10 per hour for people working in Cambridge.

Currently, the Federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour while the state minimum wage is $5.25 per hour. Massachusetts employers are bound by the state's minimum wage as it is higher than the federal minimum wage.

Members of the Campaign said they believe $10 per hour is necessary to cover food, shelter and health insurance costs for a family with four children.

The living wage rate, which would not apply to people working for some types of businesses such as nonprofits, would be recalculated every year to account for inflation.

Several Cantabrigians who attended the council meeting spoke in favor of the ordinance.

Natalie Smith described her experiences as a mother in a low-income household.

"When you spend your time crouched over, cleaning other people's toilets, how can you have any pride in your work or yourself?" Smith said.

Campaign volunteers cited Baltimore as an example of a city that adopted the living wage and has not encountered any negative responses by the business community.

The Baltimore living wage, which was enacted in 1994, is $7.70 per hour and applies to anyone working on a city or state contract.

Representatives of the Cambridge Campaign, saying that Cambridge is a more expensive city in which to live, defended the proposed $10 per hour living wage in Cambridge.

Jenny Anderson, a Campaign volunteer, cited an independent study that claims a family comprised of two working parents and two children needs an income of $11.40 per hour to survive in Cambridge.

Joe Russell, a member of the Carpenters Local 40, spoke in favor of the ordinance. He said he supported the idea even though as a union member, it did not directly affect him.

"Underpaid workers are surrounded by a sea of prosperity," Russell said.

The proposal will now be reviewed by the council's ordinance committee which may elect to refer it to the full council for a vote, according to Lisa Yanakakis, chief of staff to Cambridge Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55.