Wage Campaign in New York City - Research Paper Example

Policy Memo Paper INTRODUCTION Policies are mainly developed by concerned ities with the intention to initiate any positive transformations within any domain of the society. The Living Wage Campaign in New York City (NYC) is one of such policies, which has been determined with the intention to ensure the welfare of the taxpayers of the nation i.e. the United States (US). Notably, the policy was brought into practice by the US Senator, Tom Harkin and his representative George Miller in the year 2012. The policy is intended to ensure a fair and ethical wage structure for the workers in the NYC region. The policy was introduced with the aim to promote workers to move in alignment with the rising living cost (Waltman 2008). THESIS STATEMENT This particular memo attempts to determine the present day status of policy within the NYC region along with the responses of the critics on the implementation of the policy. The memo further determines the issues associated with the implantation of the policy. Subsequently, the memo provides alternative recommendations to Mayor of NYC Mr. Bill de Blasio regarding the future steps to be taken in relation to the policy. DISCUSSION The Living Wage Campaign of NYC can be evaluated and examined on the grounds of certain key steps which include gaining understanding about the descriptive, explanatory, methodological as well as an evaluative dimension of the policy. Description. This part of the essay intends to present the current status of the implementation of the policy. Notably, the living wage is a particular policy which has been developed based upon the notion of equal wages for workers in NYC in alignment with the change in cost of living in the present day scenario. It is believed that people in the present day society of NYC who work for at-least 40 hours a day must have proper access to food, shelter and other basic necessities of life. As per the existing labor laws in the region, minimum of $10 must be paid to the workers along with other extra compensatory benefits. While for workers who are not being paid with the extra benefits must be provided with a minimum wage of around $11.50 per hour. Contextually, as per the policy initiated by the Senator of US, companies or subsidiaries operating in the NYC region must pay to the workers, a wage above the minimum wage structure of the federal laws of the US. However, it has been learnt that the policy is not applicable for workers associated with privately owned or publicly-subsidized companies (City of New York 2014). The need for the policy was mainly felt owing to growing level of poverty amid the workers and middle New Yorkers in the NYC region. Furthermore, it has been noted that there are more than 317,000 low wage workers in the NYC and a large proportion of those were not paid as per the federal labor laws. Hence, it become vital for the concerned authorities to emerge with policies that can provide some sort of relief to the loyal taxpayers of the NYC region further enabling them to get a better lifestyle for themselves. Owing to this aspect the policy came into existence in the NYC region (Living Wage NYC 2014). It is expected that with the implementation of the policy, the minimum wage of the workers in the NYC will increase to around $15-19 per hour by the year 2019. This wage policy has been implemented in several regions within the NYC while the implementation of this policy other regions of the US is still subject to surrounded by several challenges. The overall implementation of the ordinance has been under the supervision of Living Wage Advisory Committee. This further depicts the commitment of the local government towards improving the lifestyle of the people in the NYC region with specific emphasizes upon the middle class New-Yorkers (Living Wage NYC 2014). Explanation. In the American society there are large numbers of people who work with low wages that is insufficient to meet their daily need assure a proper lifestyle for themselves where they can be able to get all the basic amenities. In this regard, it has often been argued that the present wage structure followed by the public and private sector in various parts of the US does not reflect upon the minimum wage required to offer a minimum living standard to the people. Contextually, the policy of living wage came into existence and implemented in various parts of the country including the NYC region. It has been comprehended that in the region of NYC, a family with four members need at least $51,224 annually from two working members. This amount is required for a standard living where workers need to fulfill their housing, food and taxation needs. The living wage policy in this regard started as a movement where the taxpayers of the NYC expect a little assistance from the concerned authorities with regard to improve their basic living amenities (Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2014). In various parts of the US, including Chicago, Pittsburgh, and San Diego the living wage policy implemented for a long now and has been quite successful in eliminating poverty amid the workers and lower-middle class people to an extent. This aspect has further encouraged local authorities in the NYC region to develop a particular policy with which they can help the loyal taxpayers to ensure that they get a fair wage in accordance with the level of hours and effort they put into their work. Hence, with due consideration to the aforementioned aspects, it can be stated that living wage policy and its implementation is indeed one of prominent issues in the NYC region. Methodological. For any policy, it is vital to depict the means through which its effectiveness could be reviewed. Methods are also vital in determining the needs of the existence of a particular policy. Contextually, it will also be crucial to depict the methods through which the local authorities can judge the effectiveness or the need of the policy in the NYC region. The need of the policy can be evaluated from the fact that the number of workers working with low wage payment is quite high in NYC, which is further raising the level of poverty. In the presence of the policy, a better wage structure can be promised to the workers with which they could be able to ensure a better lifestyle ultimately reducing poverty. Furthermore, the US is among the nations that have the one of the lowest wage structures of $7.25 among the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This also depicts the needs for an equitable wage structure within the nation. The effectiveness of the policy post implementation can further be judged through reviewing the level of poverty in the NYC region (Reilly 2014). Evaluation. It is important to determine the criteria on the basis of which the policy can be considered as effective. Contextually, satisfaction of the workers with regard to their wage will act as one of the criteria to measure the effectiveness of the policy. Getting fair wage can be seen as the right of the workers in NYC and hence they should not be hindered from the same. Furthermore, the proper wage structure can also enhance the level of commitment of the workers towards the employer. This can also depict the effectiveness of the policy. Improvement in the lifestyle of the people and families within the NYC region can also act as criteria to judge the effectiveness of the policy. Furthermore, with a reduced level of poverty in NYC in the coming years can be anticipated from the implementation of the living wage policy. These factors can be set as criteria to evaluate the policy with regard to its effectiveness (Luce n.d.). RECOMMENDATION FOR IMPROVEMENT Certain recommendations can be made to Mayor of NYC Mr. Bill de Blasio with regard to the implementation of the policy. Notably, the policy would have been implemented in an extensive manner throughout the NYC region so that benefits can be enjoyed equally by the workers in every domain of the society. Moreover, it can be seen that the policy is implemented as per the planning so that the probable benefits associated with the same does not get fully leveraged. However, it would also be worth mentioning that the concerned authorities associated with the policy should also take into consideration the welfare of the companies while formulating the elements of the policy. An example in this regard, would be excluding the non-profit organization from the living wage policy. CONCLUSION From the overall analysis of the policy it can be comprehended that getting fair wage is among the most vital rights of the workers in any part of the world. Workers who are also the taxpayers of the nation should be provided with all the basic amenities of life so that they are unhindered from getting a better life for themselves. Contextually, the living wage policy in the NYC region governs the companies in the private and the public sector to pay fairly to the workers above basic wage structure of the federal labor laws. This approach is expected to reduce the level of poverty in the region along with ensuring a minimum standard lifestyle for them. Works Cited City of New York. 2014. Mayor de Blasio Signs Executive Order to Increase Living Wage and expands it to Thousands More Workers. http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/459-14/mayor-de-blasio-signs-executive-order-increase-living-wage-expand-it-thousands-more#/0 (October 30, 2014). Living Wage NYC. 2014. What Is A Living Wage? http://www.livingwagenyc.org/pagedetail.php?id=3 (October 30, 2014). Luce, Stephanie. n.d. Living Wage Campaigns: Part I. http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/1797 (October 30, 2014). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2014. Introduction to the Living Wage Calculator. http://livingwage.mit.edu/ (October 30, 2014). Reilly, Mollie. 2014. Labor Secretary: We Suck On The Minimum Wage. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/tom-perez-minimum-wage_n_6036238.html (October 30, 2014). Waltman, Jerold L. 2008. Minimum Wage Policy in Great Britain and the United States. US: Algora Publishing. Read More