[analphilosopher] Keith Burgess-Jackson: From Today's *New York Times*

[analphilosopher at lists.powerblogs.com]

Posted by Keith Burgess-Jackson:
>From Today's *New York Times*
http://www.analphilosopher.com/posts/1133831480.shtml


   To the Editor:

   Implicit in "Union Claims Texas Victory With Janitors" (front page,
   Nov. 28) is the need to raise the federal minimum wage.

   An executive of the Houston Building Owners and Managers Association
   is quoted as saying that the hourly pay of janitors in Houston is
   "generally above the minimum wage." According to the article, Houston
   janitors typically earn $5.25 an hour, a dime above the national
   minimum. The article also cites a worker who says she has not had a
   raise in eight years. It's no coincidence that the last federal
   minimum wage increase was eight years ago.

   In other words, there are still employers who set the wages for adult
   workers in real jobs based on the minimum.

   Unless Congress stops ignoring this reality (and in the absence of
   successful organizing drives), these workers--millions of whom toil in
   our low-wage sectors--will be consigned to working poverty.

   Jared Bernstein
   Washington, Nov. 28, 2005
   The writer is a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.