Tag Archives: Living wage

Workers Deserve their Pay

Kingdom Building

September 11, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 14

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
   who eat up my people as they eat bread,
   and do not call upon the Lord?
There they shall be in great terror,
   for God is with the company of the righteous.
You would confound the plans of the poor,
   but the Lord is their refuge.
O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
   When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
   Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad. –Psalm 14:1-4

This graphic poetry describes evil people who eat up God’s people as easily as they eat the bread of their table creating a sad scene but, I fear, a very real one. While the unemployment rate is low in the USA the underemployment rate is not. ($25,100 according to the Census bureau is poverty level for a family of 4) While large corporations make great profits for their investors and pay their CEO’s and other officers’ high salaries, many of their staff members’ low salaries are offset by food stamps, Medicaid, and childcare subsidies. Working class and middleclass employees pay a disproportionate share of the taxes that support these federal programs.

CEO pay is quickly outpacing yours. In 2016, the CEOs of the top 350 U.S. firms earned on average $15.6 million. … In 2015, CEOs made 286 times the salary of a typical worker and 299 times more in 2014. Compare that to 1978, when CEO earnings were roughly 30 times the typical worker’s salary*.

Big companies have long relied on strategies to reduce their tax bills. But the new tax law is making it even easier, with a new analysis finding that 60 profitable Fortune 500 companies paid no taxes on a total of $79 billion of profits earned in 2018**.

Doing justice requires God’s people to work to do what is right for all God’s children. Assuring that all workers earn a living wage*** receiving at least enough to meet basic needs is the right thing to do.  

Prayer: Lord, teach us how to do justice regarding our economy and give us the courage to seek justice. Amen.

*https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/heres-how-much-ceo-pay-has-increased-compared-to-yours-over-the-years.html
**https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-biggest-companies-paid-little-to-no-federal-income-tax-last-year/
***For more information on a living wage see http://livingwage.mit.edu/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Manna to Crops

Lent
March 26, 2019

Scripture Reading: Joshua 5:9-12

While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the Passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year. –Joshua 5:10-12

When I worked in human services, I lost count of the number of times people on hearing what I did, telling me I surely did not understand about the worthless lazy poor who lived off the speakers hard-earned tax dollars. I grew weary of it and soon learned they were usually not opened to dialogue. So, I nodded and planned a graceful escape as soon as possible.

What I learned over my career is that people are just people at all income levels and in every stage of life. I worked with people who could make a dollar stretch to meet many needs and others who could earn a dollar and never get home with it–rich people and poor people alike. I have walked unexpectedly and unannounced into poor people’s homes that were spotlessly clean and homes that were so bad I did not want to sit in the chair that was offered. I once visited an adoption applicant to begin their adoption study with a two-week lead appointment to find general chaos

That said, my life mission is largely targeted at assuring that everyone has enough which equals at least a living wage, accessible affordable health care, quality education from birth to career, and a general sense of maintaining self-sufficiency.  For many people it is a major transition from poverty to self-sufficiency. It may be like moving from manna to eating the produce of their own productivity.  Christ calls all of us to be conduits of self-sufficiency. We do that best when we take the time to get to know our neighbors who live in poverty or in mansions and journey with them out of their wilderness and into self-support and self-sufficiency.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I judge people by stereotypes when I really do not know them at all. Help me to learn to love first and assess situation from the eyes of love an growth toward self-sufficiency. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Selfish Ambition

Living in the Spirit
September 20, 2018

Scripture Reading: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. –James 3:13-18

In the United States, an average 3 percent pay increase is predicted by Korn Ferry, the same as for 2017. Adjusted for the expected 2 percent inflation rate in 2018, however, the real wage increase is 1 percent—down from last year’s 1.9 percent*.

In the 1950s, a typical CEO made 20 times the salary of his or her average worker. Last year, CEO pay at an S&P 500 Index firm soared to an average of 361 times more than the average rank-and-file worker, or pay of $13,940,000 a year, according to an AFL-CIO’s Executive Paywatch news release today**.

The average Wall Street employee took home $422,500 last year, the most since the financial crisis, according to a new report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli…. The average compensation — salary plus bonus — was 13 percent higher than in 2016, according to the report. The average bonus on Wall Street in 2017 was $184,200, a 17 percent increase**.

In 2017 the poverty level in Oklahoma was 15.8% and the median income was $48,038***. According to the MIT living wage calculator, a living wage for a family of four with both parents working would require an income for each adult of $15.35 per hour working 40 hours per week and paid for 52 weeks which equals $63,856 a year. Thus, many of our citizens are surviving on less than a living wage****.

Prayer: Lord, I share just statistics this morning as I try to make sense of the world we live in today. Open our hearts and minds to the realities that selfish ambition is epidemic in our land. Empower us to work for a world were everyone has enough. Amen.

*https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/compensation/pages/2018-salary-forecast-us-global.aspx
**https://nypost.com/2018/09/17/the-average-wall-street-worker-made-more-than-600k-last-year/
*** https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ok
**** http://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/40109

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

A Living Wage

nickeled and dimedLiving in the Spirit
July 10, 2016

Scripture Reading: Amos 8:1-12

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
   and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, ‘When will the new moon be over
   so that we may sell grain;
and the Sabbath,
   so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
   and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
   and the needy for a pair of sandals,
   and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’ –Amos 8:4-6

Oklahoma has had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation for a while. Even in a major oil and gas economic downturn, our unemployment rate has only risen to about the national average.The problem for Oklahoma is not unemployment; it is underemployment. The median income in Oklahoma (half the population earns more than this amount and half less than the amount) is $46,235. The living wage for a family of four in Oklahoma with both parents working is $56,950*. Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times writer, chose to evaluate extreme poverty in Tulsa this year rather than traveling to a third world country, and he was stunned by the similarities to the problems he found.

Much of the underemployment results from low wages, an inadequately supported education system, and the inertia of those benefiting from the underemployment that causes them to ignore the reality of much of the state’s population living with inadequate earned incomes. The number with inadequate incomes also includes the elderly and persons with disabilities living on Social Security payments that are below the real cost of living.

Amos is speaking of us and to us in our scripture today. When did wealth become our god? Just as Israel did, we will pay a heavy price for the greed that is the norm today. While some reading this may be underemployed, we the people who can vote have a say in who makes the decisions about these issues.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for not investing the time and energy needed to find a way for all to earn enough to have adequate food, clothing, shelter, and other basic life needs. Let your love be our catalyst for assuring the well-being of all our neighbors. Amen.

*See at http://www.living wage.mit.edu
**http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/opinion/sunday/why-i-was-wrong-about-welfare-reform.html.)

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Earning First Fruits

I want to liveEpiphany
February 9, 2016

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house. –Deuteronomy 26:6-11

The Israelites stopped to take time to thank God for the right to work for the fruits of their own labor. Big difference from slavery where their labors were for the Pharaohs of Egypt to fill their granaries and to build their wealth. The Israelites were not seeking a hedonistic life of leisure or a prosperity gospel. They were willing to work, wanted to work, were apparently very good at work. They simply wanted their work to be compensated with the means to meet their basic needs and the needs of their families.

We have millions of people across this great nation with those same ambitions. The overwhelming majority of SNAP (food stamp) recipients who can work do so. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Among SNAP households with at least one working-age, non-disabled adult, more than half work while receiving SNAP—and more than 80 percent work in the year prior to or the year after receiving SNAP. The rates are even higher for families with children—more than 60 percent work while receiving SNAP, and almost 90 percent work in the prior or subsequent year.”

 What’s more, many SNAP participants aren’t physically able to work. About 20 percent of SNAP participants are elderly or have a disability, according to the USDA.* Over 45 million persons included in over 22 million households received SNAP in November 2015.**

Receiving a living wage for services rendered would go a long way toward freeing these citizens from dependency, one might call it slavery, on government subsidies or support from non-profit charities. It would also free them from the wagging tongues that castigate them for that dependency.

Prayer: Lord, grant that we all might celebrate equally your love with offerings of the first fruits of our labor. Amen.

* http://www.hungercoalition.org/food-stamp-myths

** http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Does It Pay to Work?

A living wageLiving in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
September 21, 2014 

Scripture Reading: Matthew 20:1-16

 ‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. — Matthew 20:1-2

For many people in the United States, work does not pay and that is not right. I discuss this in my book, Houses Divided, and I will call your attention here to one segment of that book:

Let us say you and one other family member, most often now a minor child, are earning $13,922.55 [Minimum wage in 2012 minus Social Security and Medicare] per year, $1,160.21 per month. How are you going to make ends meet? You will most likely have to rely on food stamps, Medicaid and a child care subsidy. If you every get a raise, it will be deducted from those supplements until eventually you will max out on eligibility and totally fall off an economic cliff, potentially leaving you in worse shape than when you got the job in the first place. It is a bleak existence.*

This cycle of poverty will never be broken unless we enable our children through education to achieve a higher entry point in the world of work. Children living in poverty need a little extra help at all levels to make the move from poverty to earning a living wage. We as a society need to also assure that everyone earns a living wage.

Oklahoma Fact: in 2013, Oklahoma ranged 40th in education outcomes in the United States.**

Prayer: Grant that we might be a people who share in the blossoming of our children into the fullness of their potentials. Amen.

*Marilynn Knott, Houses Divided: A Letter to the Churches of the USA on Church and State, Archway Publishing, 2013, Page 94.
**2003 KIDS Count Profile: Oklahoma. Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, www.oica.org.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Enough

Vegetable gardenLiving in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
September 16, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Exodus 16:2-15  Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
–Exodus 16:4

The story in Exodus 16:2-15 illustrates that what God provides is enough, which is a hard thing for us to grasp. It means that if there is enough than there is plenty for all. Yet we do not live in a world where all have plenty.

The Creator of the world wisely considered the needs of all that live on this earth and brought forth in proportion to that need water, light, darkness, vegetation, trees, and creatures of all sorts, placing them together as an interdependent ecology.  The ecology is only as plentiful as we are willing to let it be. And so we live in a nation where the government pays farmers huge subsidies ($6.7 billion in 2012*) for planting fewer crops so that the agriculture industry can be profitable, while 14.5% of families in the USA are classified as food insecure**. In 2013 we cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps, by five billion dollars***. This program was originally created primarily to assure that the agriculture industry could be profitable and almost as a byproduct addressed the needs of the hungry. Ten percent of farmers receive 75% of the subsidies so even this money is not distributed proportionately*.

I believe God is testing us to see whether we are following God’s instructions about gathering enough where everybody has enough. The answers are not easy but they may be easier than the complicated system described above. The best way to reduce the amount we spend on food stamps is to assure that everyone who works earns a living wage. When everyone earns a living wage, they will be able to buy the food they need to keep the agriculture industry profitable.

Oklahoma Fact:   In 2012, 19% of children in Oklahoma lived in households that were food insecure****.

Prayer: Creator God, forgive us for failing the test of gathering and distributing enough. Amen.

* http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=00000&progcode=total&yr=2012

**food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx#children

***http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3899

****http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/5201-children-living-in-households-that-were-food-insecure-at-some-point-during-the-year?loc=38&loct=2#detailed/2/38/false/1049,133,38,35,18/any/11674,11675

 

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.