Sonoma State University's Academic Senate has approved the principles of a living wage for the North Bay region in a unanimous vote recently.
Rick Luttmann, chair of the faculty said "I am proud that the Academic Senate of Sonoma State University has taken a principled stand on an urgent issue of concern in our community: a just wage for all."
"The minimum wage requirements in our state and nation do not provide a sufficient wage in Sonoma County for a working person to stay above the
poverty line. It is unconscionable that a person who has a job should be making so little income as to remain classified as "in poverty".
The Living Wage principles endorsed by the Academic Senate are as follows:
1. A day's work deserves a fair day's pay and no one who works for a living should struggle in poverty. Government and taxpayer dollars should encourage the creation of jobs that permit workers to live with dignity and
economic self-sufficiency.
2. All workers should receive a wage adequate to cover the costs of housing, transportation, childcare, health care and food. In addition, workers should receive health benefits and compensated sick leave and vacation. A living wage should enable a worker and their family to live without any form of public or private assistance.
3. Paying a living wage provides social and economic benefits for the community as a whole by decreasing the need for public assistance programs and increasing consumer spending in the local economy. Employee productivity, retention, and quality of services will improve for firms paying a living wage.
4. Living wage ordinances apply to workers employed by a city or county, to workers employed by firms and organizations contacting with a city or county. And firms receiving public subsidies or leasing property from a city of county.
5. We believe that implementing living wage legislation in municipalities and at the county level will contribute to building a more just, sustainable, and equitable economy in the North Bay
"We as faculty are particularly concerned, because many of the lowest-paid wage-earners in the area are our own students - struggling to better themselves through attaining a college degree, while at the same time holding down a low-paying job, on which in many cases they have an entire family to support", Luttmann said.
