Living Wage Movement in USA

Human Rights Defenders:

Various grassroots activists, labor unions, religious leaders and other groups

Rights:

The right to work and rights at work, to an adequate standard of living

Marginalized Group:

The poor

Strategies:

Networking, advocacy, applied budget analysis, community mobilization, legislative advocacy

Action:

More than eighty communities in the United States now have laws requiring government contractors and some other employers that receive tax breaks or subsidies to provide lower-income workers with better wages. In what is popularly termed “The Living Wage Movement”, public services are being used to raise the standard of living of the working poor through ordinances passed by referendums or legislation that require designated employers to pay wages higher than federal or state minimum wages. Typically, the wage rate is set at the level required to bring a family of four out of poverty, or US$18,000 per annum according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formulations. Important, positive by-products of the increased wages include less turnover for businesses, more company loyalty, better customer service, and strong transferrable lessons for laying the organizational framework for other social justice initiatives (e.g. affordable housing).