Editor’s note: This commentary is by Teddy Waszazak, of Barre, who works for Dunkin’ Donuts and is working with Rights & Democracy on the Raise Up Vermont campaign.
[L]ike over 50,000 of my neighbors in the Green Mountain State, I wake up every day before dawn, walk my dog, drink my coffee and head to my job where I earn less than $15 an hour. I am a manager for Dunkin’ Donuts, where I earn $14/hour. While I do not have any children to support, this income is barely enough for me to pay my bills, and certainly not enough to help me build credit or save for my future.
My parents taught me when I was young that dollars need to be stretched. But, with the rising cost of living, those dollars only stretch so far. I was a child raised poor, with my family dependent on Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and other public programs to cover our basic needs, which is the reality for more half the kids in Vermont today.
Being raised poor is a sobering and humbling experience. When people go to the supermarket, most walk by certain aisles simply because there is nothing in, say aisle 8, they need that week. When you’re poor, you walk by aisle 8 because your mother says she can’t afford to buy anything there, and the special coupons that come each month don’t work in aisle 8. Mom knew that if she shopped off of that aisle, we might not be able to pay for electricity, rent or the car we drove to the supermarket. As a child, all you understand is that there is a section of the store that seemingly everyone else can access, but not you.
I’m usually able to pay my bills (sometimes a day or two late, if I have to wait for payday), usually have some food in the house, and if I’m lucky put $25 into my savings account – I made it up to $200 this time before I had to dip into it to pay the rent. Several of my employees are mothers, all of them over the age of 30, making at or near minimum wage: One uses her tips to put gas in the car, while another uses them to pay for their daughter’s dinner. None of them have any idea how they’re going to afford presents this holiday season, since their paychecks barely last six days — there is no more left to save. It’s not right that the amount of tips a mother receives at work will determine how well her daughter eats that night.
That’s why, as a young low-income worker, community organizer and vocal citizen from Barre, I believe that all people working in the state of Vermont deserve a livable minimum wage, at least $15 per hour.
To those who believe that raising the wage is a mistake, I just want to make a few quick points:
Our minimum wage today is lower today, in real dollars, than it was in the 1960s.
Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years would generate over $250 million in our state every year. If low-wage workers like me actually have enough money to afford local goods, we’ll spend our money locally and help grow local businesses.
Almost 60 percent of African-Americans in Vermont are earning under $15 an hour.
Almost half the women in our state are earning under $15 an hour.
Half of single mothers of young children in our state are living in poverty. If we want our kids to grow into responsible citizens, and reduce drug use and violence in this state, don’t we need to make sure mothers have more money to spend, and more time to spend with their children?
It is understandable for conservatives to want to keep people from being dependent on the government. I understand that, and this is a chance for real bipartisanship. Raising the wage to $15 per hour will help people become self-sufficient and pay taxes that will, in turn, empower our communities to be more self-sufficient.
Raising the minimum wage to a more living wage of $15 per hour will help the people, businesses and communities of Vermont. It will help thousands of children out of poverty and more able to grow into healthy and responsible adults. It will help the hardest working members of our workforce take care of themselves. It will help each and every one of us. And, most of all, it’s the right thing to do.
