The Great Divide: Reaction Low Wages Lead To Slow Development ‘Go-It-Alone’ Attitude Needs To Be Retired If Real Progress Is To Be Made

It’s about time someone made the connection between the Spokane area’s low wages and its lack of economic development. Kudos to The Spokesman-Review’s wonderful “Great Divide” series which the Spokane Labor Council or any other union organization here would have been proud to publish ourselves.

For years, Spokane’s business community has touted our low-wage economy with tremendous pride, making the assumption that cheap labor attracts business. And for years, the organized labor community has tried to make the case that higher wages would stimulate our economy and improve our quality of life.

But Spokane has taken the low road to low wages - and now we’re paying a dear price.

Low cost of living or not, it doesn’t take a Harvard economist to figure out that you’ve got no money left at the end of the month. That’s why it should come as no surprise to your readers that Spokane residents have less money for discretionary spending than 97 out of 100 metropolitan areas studied.

Henry Ford figured out that if he wanted to succeed, he had to pay his workers enough to buy his cars. Nearly a century later, Spokane’s business leaders are finally learning this lesson the hard way.

The price we’ve all paid is measured not only in the lack of economic development and investment we’ve suffered, but also in the number of skilled workers we have lost to Western Washington or somewhere else. These trends feed upon themselves.

As a Spokane-area union leader for some 30 years, I’ve encountered all too often the same stubborn, satisfied, “go-it-alone” attitude described in the “Great Divide” series. I’ve seen it in Spokane’s streets and its board rooms. And it’s especially frustrating for someone like me, who’s preaching that by working together collectively, we can improve our lives.

I’m proud to say that many of the workers who have embraced this message are the ones bucking this low-wage trend, like our hard-working brothers and sisters at Kaiser Aluminum.

It’s frustrating, if not impossible, to change the mindset of a culture. But in facing our economic development problems, we have to start by changing the mindset of management. Business leaders have to understand that our community is paying a long-term price for the short-term savings of keeping wages low.

I’m encouraged that among the goals of the Focus 21 project is to create what we call family-wage jobs. But I submit to you that there are jobs here already that don’t have to pay poverty wages.

ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: John Leinen is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Spokane Labor Council AFL-CIO.