Grass-roots group hopes to bring full-time workers out of poverty

from The Lawrence Journal World

By Eric Weslander

A single parent in Lawrence with two children, working full-time year-round at the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, would earn just more than $10,000 — more than $6,000 below the federal poverty line.

David Smith, a Kansas University associate professor of sociology, cited that figure Wednesday night during the first meeting of a local group that has set its sights on goals, including raising the city’s minimum wage to $8 per hour. About 80 people attended the initial meeting of the group, dubbed “Grass Roots Action,” at the auditorium of the public library, 707 Vt.

Smith said a majority of states have raised their minimum wage above the federal level, but that Kansas hasn’t in part because it doesn’t have a statewide ballot-initiative process that would let voters decide the issue directly.

“Kansas is behind the curve. Lawrence is behind the curve. It seems reasonable to bring people who work full-time out of poverty,” Smith said.

The group aims to become an umbrella organization for causes in Lawrence, including managing growth of retail business and housing, as well as requiring major retailers to offer health benefits to employees.

Kirk McClure, KU associate professor of urban planning, said the city has too much retail-business space and too much housing — a trend he said is causing vacancies and decay in the city’s core.

Regarding housing, he said, “We are doing to Lawrence what Kansas City did to itself in the ’50s and ’60s.”

“We need to get families to move back to those old neighborhoods,” he said.

Audience member Doug Holiday, owner of Bigg’s BBQ, 2429 Iowa, asked during the meeting how many people in Lawrence earn the minimum wage — a figure that no one in the room had available. He said he was concerned that if the minimum wage was raised, his employees who already earn about $8 per hour would no longer want to work for the minimum wage.

“It’ll cost everybody more in the long run,” he said.