Third in a series. 

Re: “State Minimum? Above $30,000, Sebastian Says”

California’s state government should pay all of its quarter-million employees well above $30,000 a year “because we want public employment to be a valued opportunity for service and personal economic security,” says state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas.

“We want people of the highest quality and with the most talented to seek employment. We can’t let our wages stagnate and drag down the economy because there is a wage floor that keeps people away from poverty.”

Logically, then, “we won’t have such large public assistance rolls if we have a healthy economy, more discretionary income,” said the Assemblyman (D-Culver City/Crenshaw District). “People who are earning a wage in that category have rather minimal savings. Everything they receive in their checks gets spent.

“They are not going on vacations or junkets. Their personal amusement, mostly, is their children or their grandchildren. They spend their money on human life’s basic needs, housing costs and transportation.”

On the other side of the table, how does Mr. Ridley-Thomas answer business owners who claim that elevating the minimum wage will severely, permanently damage their operation?

“I acknowledge the multitude of challenges that one faces in running a business,” he said. “An additional cost can be a disincentive.

“That is why it is better if we take the step together, a step into a better understanding of how we provide economic security.”

(To be continued)