Pioneered by West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), the first living wage standard in the United States was passed in 1994, requiring that workers contracted by the City of Baltimore be paid a living wage. Learning from this success, affiliates across the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation soon launched living wage campaigns of their own.
In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Valley Interfaith leaders were appalled to learn that 30% of county and municipal workers earned minimum wage or barely higher. Congregational leaders took the radical step of listening to their neighbors as they shared stories of working at the same wage for decades, no longer able to pay for their own groceries. After hearing from economists that the labor market includes pressure ordinary people can leverage through their congregations and unions, Valley Interfaith decided to challenge the culture of low-paid work, persuading McAllen, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo and Mission Independent School Districts to peg the lowest wage to slightly above the federal poverty limit for a family of four, thus passing the highest living wage standard in Texas. The Texas Education Agency, City of McAllen and other public entities soon followed suit (Victory in the Valley, Texas Observer). By 2000, MIT economist Paul Osterman estimated that the living wage efforts of Valley Interfaith raised regional wages by $9.3 Million per year. Years later, Valley Interfaith leaders leveraged additional commitments from Cameron County, the City of Brownsville and the Texas Southernmost Community College to raise the starting wages of their employees, including contracted.
In 1998, COPS/Metro Alliance leaders persuaded the City of San Antonio to institute a tax abatement ordinance requiring companies that receive municipal tax incentives to pay a living wage with benefits. Sixteen years later, leaders found themselves defending that same ordinance, ultimately saving the City $8 Million in unnecessary subsidies to a corporation that set up shop even without the incentives. After an extensive listening campaign, COPS/Metro leaders launched a 2014 “campaign for economic security” that by 2019 raised the wages of the lowest paid San Antonio, Bexar County, San Antonio Independent School District and Alamo Community Colleges workers to $15 per hour.
The fight for living wages spread to Arizona, Louisiana, Colorado and other parts of Texas.
In Arizona, Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC) persuaded the City of Tucson to pass a living wage standard in 1998. In 2001, one hundred religious and community leaders piled into a Board of Supervisors’ hearing to pass a similar LivingWage Ordinance for businesses receiving Pima County contracts. In 2014, Austin Interfaith succeeded in persuading the Austin Independent School District to adopt federal Davis-Bacon wage standards for workers contracted for school construction. One year prior, leaders passed a municipal living wage ordinance mandating that any corporation receiving taxpayer incentives pay the City of Austin-established living wage. Since then, leaders succeeded in increasing that living wage standard from $11 per hour to $15 per hour.
Affiliates in El Paso have used creative means to combat wage theft, while most recently, organizations in Baton Rouge, Denver, Houston and Phoenix allied with local teachers and school employees to ensure that the adults who teach, feed and transport schoolchildren earn enough to sustain their own families with dignity (see further below).
Across the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation, stories about working adults struggling to raise families with wages too low to live on are shared in church halls and food pantries, in after-school meetings and on work sites. Congregation and union leaders are creating spaces for people to transform their private pain into innovative solutions benefitting not only individual families, but local businesses and regional economies.
The Latest
Mar 25, 2025
On March 3, the Colorado State Legislature proposed a bill that would have cut base wages for tipped workers. Coloradans for the Common Good (CCG) fought back! In collaboration with CWA 7777 and the Colorado AFL-CIO, CCG organized a press conference and successfully blocked efforts to mandate that Denver, Boulder, and Edgewater reduce the local minimum wage for thousands of tipped workers. CCG also pushed for legislation to expand the right to collective bargaining as a part of their larger strategy to support workers in Colorado.
In a press statement, they assert: “Hardworking Coloradans deserve the opportunity to earn a good wage, especially as the cost of living continues to rise…The amended version of the bill importantly avoids an immediate wage cut for tipped employees and preserves some local control. However, the bill only gives local control to local governments if they want to vote to keep their tipped minimum wage low, but will not allow them to vote to end the subminimum wage for tipped workers. We will continue to work for fair and livable wages with tips on top for Coloradans at the state and local level.”
Last week, CCG was back at the Capitol to support the Worker Protection Act and again the next day to stand with educators against cuts to education. CCG's work at the Capitol continues as the legislature considers the Worker Protection Act, the state budget, and other issues important to members.
(Photo Credit: Denver7)
Apr 30, 2024
On this International Worker's Day, Coloradans for the Common Good (CCG) leaders, led by members of Centro de los Trabajadores, and labor allies celebrated a major step forward in the protection of immigrant workers.
At the urging of CCG and labor allies, Denver City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to extend subpoena power to the Denver Auditor in matters of wage investigations. Companies accused of wage theft may no longer simply pay a small fine and move on when accused. This power means stronger enforcement of Denver's wage protections and more money for the workers who earned it.
This victory was built on hundreds of conversations with immigrant workers who shared painful stories of wage theft and disrespect in the workplace.
Mar 28, 2024
[Photo Credit: Pexels]
[Excerpt]
For many neighbors, it is a top priority to stay in their Marin County homes as they age. Figuring out how to do so is a question keeping some of us up at night.
It was a focus of the Marin Organizing Committee (MOC) when it formed the Aging and Disability Team. The group is tasked with figuring out how to make that wish a reality. As a team member, I learned a lot.
Nov 09, 2023
Leaders Pledge to Keep Working Towards $26/Hr Goal
After 48 Marin Organizing Committee leaders participated in the Marin Board of Supervisors meeting, joined by numerous people online and supported by 50 letters/emails that had been submitted earlier, the Board of Supervisors voted to increase the salaries of In-Home Support Services (IHSS) caregivers to $18/hour.
Leaders delivered compelling testimony in-person and online, and were joined by allies including InSpirit health care workers, care recipients and SEIU 2015 (who represents caregivers). MOC leaders provided moving testimony about the limited nature of IHSS time allotments for each recipient. For example, transportation to and from a doctor’s office is allotted only 12 minutes per week, and if the client could theoretically walk into the office herself the caregiver would not be paid while waiting to drive the client home.
Jun 20, 2023
Over 70 MOC leaders recently assembled to launch an individual meeting campaign and plan next steps for a campaign to raise the wages of caregivers. Leaders have been writing and testifying in support of lifting the wage floor from $16.96 per hour to a living wage.
[Excerpt]
"Caregiving work is skilled and dangerous. These same workers were applauded nightly during the pandemic for their willingness to show up at a time when there were no vaccines, when we had no idea how coronavirus spread, when they couldn’t find masks or gloves to protect themselves...
Aug 23, 2022
After hundreds of conversations among workers, labor allies and elected officials, City of Austin voted on a budget that raised the living wage floor for their workers to $20/hr including contracted workers and those employed by corporations benefiting from City tax subsidies. At the urging of Central Texas Interfaith, the City of Austin furthermore expanded emergency assistance for struggling renters and sustained spending on essential human development initiatives including long-term workforce development and after-school programs that the organization had pioneered.
Specifically, the Council approved:
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$20/hour base pay for all City of Austin staff, contract employees and employees of corporations receiving City tax subsidies
- $8 Million in emergency rental assistance
- $3.1 Million for long term workforce development
- Increased funding for AISD programs including Parent Support Specialists and Primetime After School programs
Central Texas Interfaith commended the Mayor and the City Council for investing in these important initiatives before turning their attention to the County budget.
Austin Councilmembers Approve Budget Amendment to Include $20 Minimum Wage, KVUE
Jul 29, 2022
In response to calls for change by their workers and Coloradans for the Common Good, the Jefferson County School Board approved a $3/hr increase to the minimum wage of all Educational Support Professionals (ESP). Nearby, the Denver Federation ratified a contract that increases the minimum wage to $20/hr for para-educators and over $18/hr for nutrition employees. This equates to tens of millions of dollars for working families in the metro area, and required coordinated action between unionized educators and Coloradans for the Common Good.
Last fall, CCG leaders organized an accountability assembly, leveraging commitments from every JeffCo School Board candidate at the time to support wage increases for ESPs if elected. When it became clear more pressure was needed, leaders returned to the JeffCo Board this spring.
At the same time, CCG organized a rally at Valdez Elementary with over 350 educators, parents, and community members to push for wage increases in Denver Public Schools (DPS). Leaders soon followed up with a press conference where the DPS Board President, Vice President, and an additional school board member committed to increasing wages.
[Photo Credits: (Top) Olivia Sun, Colorado Sun; (Right) Helen Richardson, The Denver Post]
Denver, Jefferson County School Districts Raise Hourly Wages for Support Staff Struggling to Afford Food and Housing, Colorado Sun [pdf]
May 03, 2022
Executive Director Michelle Paul explains how Capital IDEA Houston transforms lives. Capital IDEA Houston is a long-term job training program established by TMO.
Sep 13, 2021
[Excerpt]
Fighting wage theft on the community and parish level can be especially effective.
A big part of building any coalition is talking directly to people about their problems and really listening to them, said Jason Lowry, an organizer with the Valley Interfaith Project based in Phoenix.
"Once you figure out what the stories are, there are all kinds of ways you can pull together people who are willing to take action on it. It needs to be truly a grassroots effort."
Such actions also help congregations rethink their role locally, he says, and allow them to "reclaim turf."
Monica Dorcey, who has been a leader with Valley Interfaith Project for 15 years, recently worked with a network of churches in Phoenix to get more low-income people vaccinated.
In general, the basic tool for reaching people, according to Dorcey, is a neighborhood walk, going door-to-door, passing out flyers, setting up house meetings. "Even the ice cream lady who goes all over the neighborhood is involved. It creates a buzz in the neighborhood" as well as generating positive publicity, she said.
"If you don't rush through it, you can have a real conversation not just about what you're interested in, but about what else is going on. You can have opportunities for people to say what's on their mind," she said.
In the case of a topic like wage theft, "it's not something people readily talk about. You have to put yourself in a position where they can open up about it," Dorcey said.
If someone has complaints about some type of wage theft, the goal would be first to help the person "share their story in a clear, concise way." Then, she suggested, a delegation of parish members might approach the individual's employer.
"Say 'We don't expect our people to be treated that way. We respectfully ask you to rectify this situation.' Make it clear that this is something we're working on and we're not going away," she said.
If that happens, she added, "Word would get around. The church might become known as a place to go" to redress injustices.
[Photo Credit: CNS / Reuters / Mike Blake]
On This Labor Day, Advocating for Just Wages Means Fighting Company Theft, National Catholic Reporter [pdf]
Jan 29, 2021
Rev. Paul Skeith from SoCo Episcopal Community and Central Texas Interfaith (CTI) testified at the Travis County Commissioners Court to advocate that any private company receiving public tax subsidies from the county pay living wages, benefits, a career track, and strategy to hire locally. The Court subsequently adopted these and other worker safety measures as part of a package advocated by CTI congregations and member institutions including Workers Defense Project, LIUNA, and Central Texas Building Trades.
[Excerpts]
On Tuesday the Travis County Commissioners Court held a discussion on “Project Silicon Silver,” widely speculated to be the alias for chipmaking giant Samsung’s development contract. The discussion centered around acceptance of the preliminary application, along with a corresponding $150,000 fee paid out to the county by the developer.
The county is considering providing financial benefits in exchange for Samsung’s adherence to worker protection, wage, compensation, OSHA requirements and more.
Several citizen callers also stressed the need for county stipulations, including a living wage indexed to cost of living, local employee minimums and health insurance benefits for employees.
Father Paul Skeith of SoCo Episcopal Community advocated for all of the above issues, in addition to the opportunity for employees to rise within the company.
Jessica Wolff with Workers Defense Project highlighted the strengths of the development standards, citing the local hiring requirement, construction training requirement and anti-retaliation provisions, and called for the standards set in this policy to become the county norm.
”We recognize this is a great first step and there’s still more work to be done,” Wolff said.
Project Silicon Silver Proceeds at a Gallop, Austin Monitor [pdf]
