Living Wage

Course Description and Objectives:

The golden era of the U.S. capitalism ended in the early 1970’s.Shortly thereafter the construction of the so-called “New Economy” began.Since then, the income gap between the rich and the poor has been growing.Two of the most important characteristics of the new period are the process of deindustrialization (most of the new jobs were low wage service sector jobs) and the weakening of labor unions (the unionization rate is currently at its lowest level, 13%).In this very period the renewed idea of a living wage for every working person and the campaigns for it have arisen.The living wage campaigns were and continue to be a response to the assault on the well being of working people.

This modular course is about those living wage campaigns in the U.S.We will deal with both theory and practice.First, the background and history of the campaigns will be discussed.Second, various notions of wages (minimum, prevailing, and living) and their relationship to each other will be explored.Third, the empirical and methodological aspects of determining a specific level of living wage for a given locality and the costs and benefits of the implementation of a living wage ordinance will also be covered.With this background, the class as a whole, based on final reports will start to explore various procedures for determining the appropriate living wage for Great Barrington (and surrounding towns, e.g. Stockbridge) and an effective campaign strategy.

Textbook:

Robert Pollin and Stephanie Luce.2000.The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy. New York: The New Press (henceforth P/L).

Supplementary Material:

livingwageweb.html (continuously under construction!). Regarding the local campaign possibilities, some material from the Great Barrington town publications, such as annual reports and “budgets” (formally called Warrant with Recommendations by the Finance Committee) will be made available and specific sections will be assigned.

Also, the film about Harvard University Living Wage Campaign, Occupation, by enmassefilms will be shown with a presentation by the filmmakers.The film itself is a “.. powerful story of how students and immigrant janitors took on—and defeated—one of the most powerful corporations in the world, Occupation documents the historic three-week sit-in by the Harvard Living Wage Campaign. The Campaign won unprecedented gains for low-wage workers at the world’s richest university and catapulted the living wage movement to the center of public attention. In demonstrating one local response to corporate power in an age of globalization, Occupation powerfully depicts how people from dramatically different backgrounds were able to raise their hands together in victory.” (http://www. enmassefilms.org/about.html)

Course Requirements and Grading:

Reading Reports (8 x 3 pts) 24 pts

Class Participation 10 pts

Web Participation 10 pts

Mid-term Exam 25 pts

Final Report 31 pts

Reading Reports: It is based on your readings of the assignments, containing the essential information and insights of the piece and your comments on it. Your report must also raise questions inspired by your reading, which might be conceptual or specifically related to the practical campaign issues or estimation difficulties, and data gathering, etc.These reports will be used as starters for our class discussions.Each session two members of the class will be in charge of leading the discussion.

Web Participation:There is a course-specific discussion board.The students are expected to contribute to this forum through their comments, questions, suggested web-links related to living wage, and their comments on to other members’ contributions.At least seven contributions per student are expected.

Mid-term Exam:The exam is an in-class exam based on study questions handed out a week prior to the exam date.The questions, directly related to the reading, are in short essay format.

Final Report:This report should be written from the point of view of either an informed living wage organizer or a critic of the living wage.The report must express your familiarity with the literature and the other side’s argument.Various possibilities of role playing are allowed, e.g. a gifted politically active Simon’s Rock student (should come naturally to some of us!), the owner of the Red Lion Inn, the selectman of Great Barrington, a consultant to Green Party or even the business manager of Simon’s Rock College of Bard.The report must contain the sections on the background of the idea of living wage (with specific references), the description of the town economy (with an emphasis on low wage jobs), the description of the methodology of the suggested level of living wage, and the benefits and costs of the implementation of the living wage ordinance.Not more than 10 pages, typed with full references; they are due on the date of final exam.

Topics to be Covered:

3/18 Introduction and Course Logistics

3/22 P/L, Chp.1 and Appendix II.

3/25 Cancelled P/L, Chp. 2 and Appendix II, pp. 200-1.

3/29 P/L, Chp. 2 and Appendix II, pp. 200-1.T. Palley. 1998.

4/8 Building Prosperity from the Bottom Up.Challenge, Sept.-Oct.; (http://www.simons-rock.edu/~eatonak/tpalleylivingwage.htm)

ACORN. Living Wage for Colleges and Universities. (http://www.acorn.org/acorn10/livingwage/campus/intro.html);

Economic Policy Institute (EPI).The Forgotten Workforce. (http://www.acorn.org/acorn10/livingwage/federallw.pdf);

Also explore the following site regarding Harvard Living Wage Campaign: (http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~pslm/livingwage/portal.html).

4/12 P/L, Chp. 4.

4/15 J. Bacon, et al. 2000. The Self-Sufficiency Standard: Where Massachusetts