Letter to the Editor: Lift workers above poverty line
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I spoke March 26 during the public forum at the Parkersburg City Council meeting. I have worked with low-income families and the organizations that support them.
I am going to expand on a conversation held at the last city budget meeting where Mr. Carpenter suggested that raises proposed for department heads be shifted to the lowest-paid workers in the city.
Using federal and state guidelines, it is clear that several of the lowest paid workers are skirting, if not below the stated poverty guidelines, depending on the size of their families. Accordingly, some workers would qualify for SNAP, commonly called food stamp benefits. Mr. Jiles said that several of the sanitation workers resisted shifting their work schedules to four 10-hour days, versus the existing five 8-hour days schedule. The reason: 10 hours days would interfere with their existing side (second) jobs. City employees working 40-hour weeks must take a second job to feed and house their families! Or receive food stamps for their families. That is beyond unacceptable.
The salary survey that was approved by the City Council in February 2019 cannot be used as justification, because it was before COVID. Businesses closed, many employees lost their jobs, and the cost of EVERYTHING went up, including food, gasoline, rent, utilities, and transportation. Some were able to work remotely, but not our sanitation workers, who continued working in dangerous conditions.
Some prices have gone down, but not to pre-pandemic levels, and it is unlikely we will see those prices again. The price for a dozen eggs or a pound of hamburger is still around double what they used to be, and utilities and rents are still extremely high. The impact of increased costs means that families living paycheck to paycheck on low wages are one sick child, or one vehicle breakdown away, from losing everything.
The Committee of the Whole passed the proposed budget. But there are additional opportunities to raise the minimum wage level for all city employees to $31,500 per year. If the city considers raising the sanitation fees, again, you will not only hurt the very employees that would receive this raise, but you also make it more challenging for ALL low-income citizens of Parkersburg.
Mr. Jiles advised there is at least $8 million reserved in the budget. If the Wood County Commission can lift their employees above the poverty level, so can the City of Parkersburg!
Sue Ellen Waybright
Parkersburg