See below today’s (Oct. 19) story in the Wichita Eagle:
“Minimum wage may turn into city issue”

Below that, see related story, “Kansans make more than Oklahoma, Nebraska peers” (Oct. 18)
The many comments posted to the online version take issue with the claim stated in its title.

Minimum wage may turn into city issue

BY DAN VOORHIS
The Wichita Eagle

A coalition of labor and community groups has gathered more than 1,300 signatures in an attempt to create a Wichita minimum wage.They will present the petition to the Wichita City Council at some point in the future in hopes it will pass an ordinance mandating a wage to match the federal minimum wage.

The move would apply only to the relatively few workers who are not covered by the federal minimum wage law and, instead, are covered by the state minimum wage — the nation’s lowest at $2.65 an hour.

The Kansas Department of Labor estimates that about 27,000 Kansans are paid below the federal minimum wage, which rose to $5.85 an hour in July on its way to $7.25 in 2009.

Jake Lowen, director of the Wichita-Hutchinson Labor Federation, said groups are going local because the Kansas Legislature failed to raise the state minimum wage last spring.

“The people in Topeka didn’t do anything for the people of Kansas,” Lowen said. “Somebody has to stand up for what’s right.”

Heidi Zeller, an organizer for Kansas Action Network — a coalition of Wichita and Kansas labor, church and community groups — said proponents will approach council members to argue their case.

“There is tremendous evidence that this can really help the economy,” she said.

But any local minimum wage would face legal and political hurdles.

Municipal law experts disagree on whether the council has the authority to impose a minimum wage on private employers.

Wichita City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf said the council does not have such authority.

Michael Heim, a state attorney who helps write bills for the Legislature and teaches classes on municipal law, said the law is unclear, but that the council probably could approve such a measure under its home-rule powers.

“It’s kind of breaking new ground,” said Sandy Jacquot, general counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities.

And the effort would face a political challenge as well. Several council members said they wanted to know more before making any decisions.

“I would have to be convinced that it was needed,” said District 2 council member Sue Schlapp.

District 4 council member Paul Gray said he already had made up his mind.

“I don’t feel any justification to raise the minimum wage,” he said. “The market dictates that.”

Kansans make more than Oklahoma, Nebraska peers

BY HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle

Kara Abdallah makes $7 an hour as a cashier at a Wichita sporting goods store. That’s slightly less than the statewide average of $7.90 for cashiers, among the state’s lowest paid workers.“It’s not bad,” the Wichita State University junior said of her part-time job. “I mean I’d like to make more of course, but it’s good enough for now. It’s all right for college.”

In addition to ranking cashiers among the lowest paid, the 2007 Kansas Wage Survey released Wednesday by the Kansas Department of Labor showed that as a whole, Kansas workers earn a little more than their counterparts in Oklahoma and Nebraska.

They earn slightly less than workers in Missouri and Colorado, according to the report.

The report also pointed out regional differences within the state, with Wichita workers generally earning more than workers in Topeka but less than workers in Kansas City.

Secretary of Labor Jim Garner said the survey is designed to help businesses ensure that they are paying competitive wages and to direct workers to the best-paying jobs.

The data released Wednesday is based on surveys of 5,000 employers who are subject to Kansas unemployment insurance laws.

The figures show that sales clerks, cashiers and registered nurses are the most common jobs available to Kansas workers.

The highest hourly wages, $90.91, are paid to obstetricians and gynecologists, the report said. The lowest hourly wages are paid to fast food cooks, $6.81, and food counter attendants, $6.85.

Among the workers at the low end of the scale is Tze Tan, an international student at Wichita State who earns $6 an hour at a food service counter. He said the job helps him pay for food and miscellaneous expenses while he finishes his degree in business.

When he graduates next spring, he said, he hopes to stay in Wichita, even if it means passing up a better-paying job in the Kansas City area.

“I like Wichita a lot,” he said. “It’s not as expensive as Kansas City.”

Case Bell said he earns $10 an hour as a social service worker who specializes in the education of homeless adolescents.

Although he already has a bachelor’s degree, Bell said he is hoping to eventually earn a doctorate in international development.

After getting his doctorate, he said, he’d probably consider relocating outside the Wichita area, “for job satisfaction but not more pay,” he said.

“I’m not a very material person.”