How Long Must They Wait?

California’s Industrial Welfare Commission has recommended raising the minimum wage to $4 an hour, but the raise, which would be the first in nearly seven years, would not be enough to push a paycheck above the poverty mark for any parent.

Full-time students under age 21 would get a lousy extra nickel per hour. What can you buy for 5 cents? That subminimum, subhuman wage of $3.40 per hour would not be much of a reward for anyone trying to juggling jobs, books and tuition bills.

The current minimum wage, $3.35 an hour, works out to $134 a week and less than $7,000 a year. A single adult may be able to survive, though barely, on those paltry paychecks. A parent can do better with a welfare check. What kind of motivation does that provide?

Congress last raised the rate in 1981. Inflation has risen 27% since that time. Unlike most workers who get a raise every year, the hard-working men and women who take the most menial jobs, the dirtiest jobs or the most taxing jobs have gotten nothing. How much longer must they wait for a raise, a decent raise that allows them to keep up with the cost of living and to stay above the poverty line?

Legislation to push the rate to $4.65 and to provide for regular increases is moving slowly through Congress. The Reagan Administration opposes a higher wage. Big business also stands firmly against an increase on the ground that a raise could trigger unemployment, bankruptcies and higher pay for union members and other workers.

People who work for the wages of poverty do not have to wait for Congress to act. The federal government allows the states to set minimum wages that exceed the national minimum-wage rate. The California Legislature has acted. A bill, sponsored by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), would boost the minimum wage to $4.25--a rate that would make welfare less attractive. The governor should sign that bill or encourage his appointees to the Industrial Welfare Commission to match the amount.

The minimum wage was never intended to provide the sole support of a family, but more families, especially the growing number headed by women, depend solely on it. A livable wage would keep a family of three off welfare.

The minimum wage was never intended to finance an education, but students deserve an incentive, not punishment, when they work and study at the same time.

When the Industrial Welfare Commission holds public hearings next month, the members can expect to hear from parents who provide for growing children, workers who may never earn more than the lowest wages, and students who are trying to get ahead. The board should then compute compassion with the cost of living and recommend a higher, more livable minimum wage.