One of the major obstacles facing proponents of bringing a living wage to Providence is the opposition -- at least for now -- of Mayor David N. Cicilline, who cites the fiscal uncertainty facing the city as a rationale for not immediately pursuing the effort.

"Until we have a full understanding of our city's financial condition," including a deficit estimated in the range of $35 million to $40 million, "no responsible person can talk about taking on new initiatives," Cicilline says. The mayor says he couldn't agree more with the need to raise wages, but that a plan for eliminating the deficit must come first.

The opposition of the progressive Cicilline is bound to be a source of frustration for living wage proponents, who have been making halting progress over three years on their proposal to create a $10.19 wage for some of the city's lowest paid employees. As it stands, the living wage proposal remains bottled up in the city council, and proponents are pressing for the joint ordinance and finance committee hearing in the weeks to come. "We're really trying to keep the pressure on," says Elizabeth Colon, community chair of Rhode Island Jobs With Justice.

Supporters, including the Reverend Matthew Kai, president of the Ministers' Alliance of Rhode Island, and other members of the Workers' Rights Board, a labor group, have called for Cicilline's support and met with the mayor. During a rights board hearing on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Providence school bus monitors, a teaching assistant, and representatives of the Hispanic Contractors Association and the Black Contractors Association testified in support of the living wage proposal. And in December, more than 100 people gathered outside the office of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce to present the chamber a Grinch of the Year award because of its opposition to the living wage proposal.

Critics tend to describe living wage proposals as anti-business. Supporters, though, point to the presence of living wage ordinances in scores of thriving US cities, including Boston. They also cite the ongoing exploitation of low-wage workers, such as Providence school bus monitors, who sometimes have to reapply for jobs and improved conditions after already qualifying for better wages and benefits (see "Providence schools give bus temps the runaround," This just in, December 27, 2002).

In the latest offensive, living wage boosters have commissioned writer Charles Walker and photographer Julia Clinker to produce a series of photo documentaries about workers who would be affected by the creation of a living wage ordinance. The conditions to be documented include the increasing cost of housing in Providence, with a three-bedroom apartment, according to Rhode Island Housing, renting for more than $1000 a month. As Deya Garcia, living wage chair of Rhode Island Jobs With Justice, puts it, "There's no way you can live when you cannot even afford that kind of rent."

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.

Issue Date: February 21 - 27, 2003