Fair Wage Fares Poorly

From Robb Chavez:

In the normally placid chamber, loud, sharp shouts erupted. "Shame!," "Shame on you!," "Live on the minimum wage!" After nearly 6 hours of numbing routine, conducted at a soporific pace, the Albuquerque City Council late Monday night finally voted down 5-4 a resolution to put a City Fair Wage on the Oct. 4 ballot.

Not only was the citizens' will thwarted, but the dozens of advocates for the measure were not even allowed to register their support, except for one proxy--Carter Bundy of AFSCME.

Most councilors made a final statement before the vote. This provided the few memorable moments of the evening. Eric Griego methodically ripped to shreds the flimsy rationales of Chamber of Commerce president, Jim O'Neill. A female colleague of O'Neill rushed to the podium, touting the anti-Fair Wage economic study done by Richard Berman. Griego demolished Berman's study as anti-worker PR, and O'Neill's erstwhile rescuer slinked back to her seat.

Michael Cadigan rehearsed for the Darth Vader role as he threw legalistic hogwash in everyone's faces to justify his unjustifiable vote to reject the proposition. Griego countered by noting that numerous major cities have suffered no negative consequences nor legal reprisals from passing similar ordinances.

One encouraging development in the night's otherwise disappointing results is that the Gang of Five (Cadigan, Winter, Mayer, Cummins and Loy) had to sweat out their decision along with everybody else. They appeared increasingly downcast as the meeting dragged on. Sally Mayer was so distraught by the angry audience reactions that she left shortly after the infamous vote. Adding to her discomfort was some back pain which kept her leaning against the wall or out of the room for extended periods. Even Cadigan made a feeble gesture of reconciliation to the crowd immediately preceding his deciding "no" vote.

Fair Wage proponents dwindled in number over the long wait, but about 30 steadfast progressives stayed the course until 9:40 PM, on behalf of the thousands who couldn't make it. The Council's gambit to disappear ordinance support by placing it at the bottom of the agenda was foiled as folks called their bluff.

This was a defeat in name only. The Council's narrow rejection of the Fair Wage was so outrageous that it is sure to ignite the ballot petition campaign that concludes on July 18. The community is energized, and the pale, nervous countenances now belong to the Gang of Five and their corporate sponsors at the Chamber of Commerce.
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Editor's Note: Click to download a petition and other information for gathering signatures of Albuquerque registered voters for the petition to get a living wage proposal on the ballot of the October 4th municipal election. A good strategy is to take copies of the petition to events like Gay Pride, sporting events, concerts or other places people gather. We need 13,400 valid signatures by July 18th.