According to wikipedia, a living wage is ¨the minimum hourly income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs¨ such as ¨housing, food, utilities, transport, health care, and recreation.¨ We aren’t calling for a dollar amount; living wages should be tied to cost of living and account for inflation. (Click here for one example of a Living Wage Calculator.) In other words, we envision a world where everyone has whatever it costs to provide for everything a given person or community needs.
By universal, we mean that everyone, everywhere deserves the right to live without poverty and the entire 99% across the world must stand in solidarity to fight for our commons. The struggle must include us all, regardless of occupation or immigration status, and must be waged at every level: from individual employers to cities, states, nations, and beyond. We live in a globalized world ruled by transnational corporations. We must have a transnational demand: A living wage for every person on the planet.
To the critics who would say, ¨A living wage would drive up inflation, scare away investors, kill small business, stifle job creation¨ and so on: We are not convinced. There were those who said the exact same things when a handful of radicals in the 1880s began calling and marching for the 8-hour work day.
Why accept a world in which poverty is necessary for the economy to function? We may not entirely understand the intricacies of financial markets — but admit it, neither do you. No one does. [after 30 years of ruling, Greenspan also told the same, I dont know, there was a mistake!] But we can say with certainty that that system is not a functioning economy. We must measure success in the number of lives saved, the number of homes provided, the number of bellies fed [do we providing sustainable environment for future generations] — not the number of dollars made on Wall Street. We can do better, but we must demand it.
– source occupymidsummer.org