According to Just Economics of Western North Carolina, which has been calculating the local living wage since 2008, a single person working full time in Buncombe County needs to make $22.10 per hour to afford basic expenses. That’s a $2 hike over last year’s rate and more than double what it was when it was first calculated 17 years ago.
Tag: living wage
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ACS board recommends pay raises for school employees
The Asheville City Board of Education approved budget recommendations that include a 7% increase to each pay level for certified staff, which include teachers, and starting pay for all hourly employees, including bus drivers and custodial workers, to $20 per hour.
Just Economics plans ‘two-tiered’ living wage system
Under the new system, similar to that employed by the national Living Wage For Us campaign, businesses could remain in the Living Wage Program if they agreed to an $18 hourly minimum wage and “committed annual increases” toward a $20.10 wage rate.
WNC labor organizing is on the upswing
As the minutes ticked past 5 p.m. on June 1, a crowd of about 50 Moog employees and their supporters gathered in the outdoor area of nearby Archetype Brewing North with banners and signs. The occasion: the launch of a campaign for Moog workers to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 238.
Letter: Pay raises are not enough
“Should they have to work two-three jobs, get food assistance and other financial help, or should the county pay them the going rate? “
Letter: Thumbs-up for county wage hike
“Hurrah for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners!”
Letter: Tax relief would also be welcomed
“This majority is struggling as much or more than Buncombe County employees, but instead of getting a raise, they get to collectively pay $5.1 million in taxes in addition to what they are already paying.”
Letter: Does county understand rental market?
“Every increase is helpful, but the people crunching the numbers must not be living the hourly experience, as they truly don’t seem to understand what it costs to live, even modestly, as a renter in our region.”
Buncombe approves $17 minimum wage for county staff
The move comes after a two-year long examination of employee compensation across 16 other government agencies comparable to Buncombe County.
Letter: You pay a lot to live in the mountains
“Now that I’ve moved to Greensboro, a three-hour drive away, I’m saving $300 a month in rent for where I am now.”
The agony of defeat
WNC reacts to new living wage rate
Just Economics of Western North Carolina updated its hourly living wage for all Buncombe County employees to $17.70 in January, a 40-cent increase over the 2021 living wage for employees without employer-provided health insurance — and a $1.90 hourly raise for those with insurance.
Q&A with Vicki Meath, executive director of Just Economics of WNC
Many issues are close to Vicki Meath’s heart. She has spent her life in community organizing, working on environmental justice with Western Colorado Congress and striving to raise Ohio’s minimum wage with Cleveland Jobs With Justice. In 2010, she joined Just Economics of Western North Carolina, a nonprofit that advocates for a living wage, as […]
Letter: A gentrified and homogenized Asheville
“If the ratio of wages to housing cost doesn’t get under control for the creative working schlubs of this town, we will all have to go.”
Letter: Corporate free rides
“The argument was made that if we put conditions in the incentive contracts, a company may not sign. What then is our incentive to give them our money?”
Commission considers $150K in small business relief Jan. 26
While county relief has heretofore been available only in the form of low-interest loans, businesses will now be able to seek grants of $5,000 to hire or rehire employees at a living wage. Staff had previously believed such a grant program to be illegal but had since received updated guidance from the UNC School of Government.
Letter: Build foundation for a less tourist-dependent Asheville
“Tourism must shrink as a proportion of our local economy. We have to start building the foundation on which a new, less tourist-dependent Asheville can thrive.”
Letter: Tourism imposes tax on the rest of us
“In order to house, clothe and feed your family with an income that insulting, you need support from subsidized housing, subsidized transport, food banks and other charities.”
Letter: Downtown hotels should pay living wage
“As real estate prices climb and cost of living goes up and up, the only solution is to pay workers more.”
News in brief: 2019 living wage, Henderson County school history program
Local nonprofit Just Economics increased its living wage rates for 2019. For those employees not offered employer-sponsored health insurance benefits, the new hourly rate is $13.65; for those offered health insurance, the new hourly rate is $12.15.
Letter: Our power is in our vote!
“Only by your vote can the needs of the people be taken seriously.”