Tompkins County Legislature Approves First Expenditure Out of County Living Wage Contingency Fund

The Tompkins County Legislature, in a 12-1 vote on Tuesday, May 6th, approved the first proposed subcontractor, Foodnet’s Meals on Wheels Program, receiving additional funding of $16,500 to bring its’ 22 workers up to the Tompkins County Living Wage ($12.62/hour with health insurance; $13.94 without).

The Tompkins County Workers’ Center (TCWC) had lobbied long and hard last year, along with the incredible stand taken by ReCommunity Recycling workers, Milton Webb and Stanley McPherson, to get the County to approve a Living Wage Contingency Fund of $100,000 to get the ball rolling on ensuring that all County-contracted workers are paid a Living Wage.

Since this is an ongoing campaign, the TCWC continues to push forward. Thus we ask if you live in Tompkins County and agree that all County-contracted workers should be paid a Living Wage, to sign our petition here. (While TCWC would certainly prefer that all workers in the County get paid a living wage based on having a statutory minimum wage that was a living wage, it is not legally possibly for a County in NYS to have its own minimum wage without specific ‘state-enabling legislation’.)