The Working Poor Win One

California’s working poor will soon be a little better off. The state’s Industrial Welfare Commission has raised the minimum wage by 90 cents an hour, to $4.25, the highest in the nation. The raise was a major economic and political victory, orchestrated by a coalition of community groups. It also was long overdue.

For nearly seven years the largest paychecks that the nation’s lowest-paid workers could take home remained unchanged at $134 a week. For the smallest family, that is less than the federal government’s formal poverty level of $7,000 a year. During the same time, the price of just about everything--including basics like food, rent and clothing--went up. Already behind, the working poor fell even further behind.

California, the seventh state to increase the rate above the national standard, is the first to break the $4 barrier. The 322,000 workers who are now earning the lowest legal wage, and the thousands who earn less than the new rate, can expect a raise as of July 1.

For the raise, they can first thank the United Neighborhoods Organizations of East Los Angeles, the South-Central Organizing Commitee on the Southside and the East Valleys Organization from the San Gabriel Valley, affiliates of the Industrial Areas Foundation.

The groups began a campaign to raise the minimum wage more than a year ago after a survey of their membership, estimated to be 200,000 families, found that 40% earned less than $5 an hour--which meant that their wages were below welfare benefits.

The coalition enlisted influential supporters. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), whose bill to raise the minimum wage nationally has been stalled in Congress, attended a massive rally last summer in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Archbishop Roger M. Mahony also joined dozens of political, religious, educational and labor leaders to give the campaign serious political momentum.

The California Legislature voted to raise the minimum wage, but Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed the measure, saying that his commission should make the decision.

One member, Muriel Morse, the former general manager of personnel for Los Angeles, was considered the commission’s neutral member, and the coalition concentrated its efforts on her. They supplied her with persuasive data and arranged for her to visit families trying to make do on minimum-wage paychecks. They persuaded big supermarket chains like Ralphs, The Boys Markets and Vons to support a substantial increase to demonstrate that, contrary to the prevailing political wisdom, business would not oppose any raise. Their strategies paid off. Morse, astute and compassionate, provided the margin of victory.

A full-time job ought to do more than guarantee a lifetime of poverty. The additional 90 cents an hour will bring thousands of families a step closer to a fair and livable wage in California.