Keep 'Em Poor

The minimum wage in Oklahoma is $7.25 an hour, and it hasn’t been raised in 15 years. An initiative petition to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years has hit a wall – the State Chamber of Commerce, Farm Bureau, and other organizations intent on keeping wages low.

When I suggested online that it was way past time to address low wages in the state, the first response was, “Minimum wage jobs aren’t supposed to be for a lifetime. If you want more money, get more training.”

“Tell that to childcare workers,” I responded.

He suggested that childcare workers needed to find better jobs.

And it’s not as if workers would get a big raise all at once. In five years, we will still be behind.

The Chamber calls the initiative petition unconstitutional, and they are taking the issue to the state Supreme Court. The Chamber spokesperson suggests that the state Legislature should address low wages. Perhaps they don’t trust voters to keep wages low.

Training is indeed an excellent idea, but there are barriers. Can a person working full time for $7.25 an hour, or someone working parttime at more than one low-paying job, find either the time or the money to get additional training? And what if they’re raising a family?

Oklahoma ranks 43rd in median family income. Evidently, one Oklahoma billionaire isn’t enough to move the ranking out of the Bottom 10.

And cities can’t do anything on their own. Then-Gov. Mary Fallin, in 2014, signed a law that forbids cities and towns from raising the minimum wage. Not only would the state Legislature not do the right thing, but they won’t let anyone else do it, either.

And the irony of all this is our state motto – Labor omnia vincit – Latin for Work Conquers All.

On the plus side, we still have an excellent CareerTech system in Oklahoma that allows high school students to start their training, but the workers already in the labor pool need to be paid a living wage if they want to access career tech programs after high school.

This state is built on labor, and what’s fair to employees is good for business. Henry Ford taught us that. Business and ideology need to get out of the way and allow citizens to have a voice in this matter.

We need to do what’s right, or we need to change our motto. What’s Latin for Cheap Labor Makes a Few People Rich?