Weaverville and Montreat pass living wage resolutions

Here’s the press release from Just Economics:

Local Living Wage Resolutions Successful
Buncombe County Towns and Municipalities Support Living Wage Through Resolutions

Weaverville, NC, June 20, 2014– On Monday, the town of Weaverville passed a living wage resolution for all full time town employees. Weaverville joins the town of Montreat as the second community in Buncombe County to pass a living wage resolution this year, proof that the living wage movement is still alive here in Western North Carolina.  Montreat passed a living wage resolution on May 8th.

“Local living wage policy ensures that our tax dollars are supporting jobs that enable people to be self-sufficient and help set a wage floor standard for the community,” says Vicki Meath, Executive Director of Just Economics, a local non-profit advocating for living wages.  “We see a living wage as a more just minimum than the minimum wage, a better starting point, and we applaud Weaverville and Montreat for passing a policy that values workers.  The people taking care of our communities should be able to make enough money to take care of themselves.”

The Living wage rate in Western North Carolina is currently $11.85 per hour without employer-provided health insurance and $10.35 per hour with it. These numbers were calculated by Just Economics as the minimum income an employee needs to survive without public or private assistance. The city of Asheville passed a similar resolution on May 8th 2007, and Buncombe County passed a resolution for their employees in September of 2012.  Across the state, the City of Durham passed a living wage policy in January 1998, and the county of Durham did this on July 1st2004. These policies define a wage floor for employees working for these cities and counties.

A large amount of city and county work is done by contractors, and across the country living wage policy includes minimum thresholds for how much a contractor working on a city or county contract can pay their employees. The policies in Durham and the City of Asheville included living wage requirements on contracts up until last year when the state legislature passed House Bill 74.  A provision in HB74 eliminates the rights of counties and towns in North Carolina from requiring a living wage to be paid to contractors, but more counties and towns are supporting the living wage movement by paying their employees enough to live independently.

To encourage privately-owned businesses to pay their workers fairly, Just Economics has established a Living Wage Certification Program. Presently, there are almost 400 living wage certified businesses in Western North Carolina, and more add to the list each month. These businesses voluntarily commit to paying living wages.  Just Economics currently operates the largest Living Wage Certification program in the country.

More and more people across the country are supporting this idea: from Weaverville to the state of Maryland, which is the first state to require living wages for employers with state contracts. The living wage movement started in 1994 in Baltimore, MD by a labor union and religious leaders who believed that local government should spend public money on living wage jobs in order to support self-sufficient workers.

Because private and public employers support living wages, more people are being drawn to the movement. More policy makers are advocating for living wages, encouraging more victories such as those in Weaverville and Montreat.

“Living wages are important to building a local economy that is sustainable,” Meath continued.  “When more people can meet their basic needs without assistance, our whole economic community benefits.   At the very least, a full time worker should be able to put a roof over their head and food on their table without help, and at the current minimum wage a worker can’t do that here in Buncombe County.”

Just Economics is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate, advocate, and organize for a just and sustainable local economy that works for all in Western North Carolina. Currently, JE has three primary areas of work: policy advocacy, community education and leadership development, and Living Wage Employer Certification.  Just Economics has over 375 employers in Western North Carolina that have committed to paying living wages through their voluntary certification program.  The current living wage for Buncombe County is $11.85/hour without benefits, or $10.35/hour with employer-provided health insurance. This figure is calculated annually by Just Economics. To learn more about Just Economics visit www.justeconomicswnc.org.