Living Wage

In 1994, an effective alliance between labor and religious leaders in Baltimore launched a successful campaign for a local law requiring city service contractors to pay a living wage. Since then, strong community, labor, and religious coalitions have fought for and won similar ordinances in cities such as St. Louis, Boston, Los Angeles, Tucson, San Jose, Portland, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Oakland-- bringing the national living wage total to 110 ordinances.

Today, more than 74 living wage campaigns are underway in cities, counties, states, and college campuses across the country. Taken collectively, these impressive instances of local grassroots organizing is now rightfully dubbed the national living wage movement, which syndicated columnist Robert Kuttner has described as "the most interesting (and underreported) grassroots enterprise to emerge since the civil rights movement … signaling a resurgence of local activism around pocketbook issues."

In short, living wage campaigns seek to pass local ordinances requiring private businesses that benefit from public money to pay their workers a living wage. Commonly, the ordinances cover employers who hold large city or county service contracts or receive substantial financial assistance from the city in the form of grants, loans, bond financing, tax abatements, or other economic development subsidies.

Hundreds of places across the country have had victories enacting living wage laws, including several major victories in 2003.  Click below to find out more: 

• Santa Fe Asks Court to End Lawsuit Challenging Model Citywide Living Wage Ordinance
• San Francisco Citywide Living Wage Ordinance to Appear on November Ballot

If you are interested in starting a living wage campaign in your community, contact Jen Kern at the ACORN Living Wage Resource Center or Paul Sonn at the Brennan Center.  Along with the Economic Policy Institute, we'd like to thank these groups for mapping out the high road on the living wage issue.

Start by clicking  on the best practices on the right to start your journey.   

There is a choice. Start the Journey.

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