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The Dark Side of Santa Monica by The Rev. Joyce Stickney
Many years ago I set my mind to being the best waitress/food server I could be. Carol's Garden, a family restaurant in the mid-west, had hired me for about 35 hours and $250 (including tips) a week. I was given one uniform, a little pin-striped dress (which made me feel like snow white), two aprons, a book of check orders, and a brief orientation. In my crash course I had to memorize the 8 page menu back and forth including prices, work the cash register, throw together salads, mix any drink requested at the bar, scoop out mouth-watering sundaes, memorize the soups of each day, know what ingredients were used in the different dishes, be able to balance heavy trays and multiple dishes, glasses, coffee pots, and hustle constantly ... It was crazy making. I was humbled and overwhelmed in every way. In exchange for my labor, I received very little appreciation. One of the owners often threw plates at us, yelled, and slammed his fists down on the counter. The other owner gave menacing looks and sent us home early from work to demonstrate his omnipotence.
Working in this environment was a matter of choice for me instead of a necessity. I wanted to experience another dimension of the United States - the working class, the invisible people and work that didn't require a formal education. I had studied sociology in college and was intrigued by culture, class, and labor issues. I was also saving money to move out to California and attend Fuller Theological Seminary. To this day I can recall the names of all my co-workers; the cooks, the busboys, the dishwashers, the hosts, and the many foodservers, most of them struggling to make a life for themselves and their child(ren). The day I left Carol's Garden I was ready and relieved to leave that place. But it was a bitter-sweet moment because I didn't see much hope in the faces of those I was saying good-bye to.
A few weeks ago I read the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. In cognito, Ehrenreich spends time working as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk in three different states. She joins the millions of Americans who work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages, in an attempt to see if she herself can make it. Her first hand experience is both tragic and humorous, and I find her conclusions (what she learned) to be poignant. She evaluates her experience ...
"the appropriate emotion is shame - shame at our own dependency, in this case, on the underpaid labor of others. When someone works for less pay than she can live on - when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently - then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The `working poor', as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else."
Ehrenreich recently visited Los Angeles and was the keynote speaker at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy Annual Dinner (at which Bishop Borsch and the Rev. Altagracia Perez were honored). Los Angeles is said to be the nation's poverty capital with the largest number of poor of any metropolitan area. Work does not guarantee decent pay and health care for millions of residents. Over 30% of Los Angeles workers are unable to provide their families with basic necessities without government assistance. In the midst of these challenges, many community groups, clergy, and labor unions have worked to pass a living wage law for the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. After the legislation passed in 1996, CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) was founded, an interfaith association of over 400 religious leaders throughout L.A. County. CLUE's purpose is to respond to the crisis of the working poor by organizing the religious community to support low-wage workers in their struggles for a living wage, health benefits, respect and a voice in the corporate and political decisions which impact them.
Recently much of CLUE's focus has been on Santa Monica and the Living Wage Campaign. After watching George Lucas' most recent Star Wars prequel, Invasion of the Clones, the analogy of "the dark side" seems to capture some of the current dynamics at play. The living wage ordinance in question is the first in the nation to cover businesses which are not direct city contractors, but who are large corporations located in a "Coastal Zone" which have benefited indirectly from $180 million of taxpayer investment. The living wage ordinance mandates an initial hourly rate of $10.50, or more if health benefits are not provided, and will affect some 2000 workers. Using deceit, confusion, and twisted information, large luxury hotels in the Zone have spent over a million dollars on the anti-living wage ballot initiative (Prop KK). They threaten to sue the city if their referendum efforts fail and continue to spend inordinate amounts of money in their attempt to defeat the living wage ordinance up for public vote on November 5, 2002 (details are posted at www.laane.org ).
In many ways I do feel the shame that Ehrenreich refers to, not only because of the working poor who migrate to Santa Monica for subsistence income, but because of how these workers are treated on top of this. I have heard from a number of workers about how they are intimidated, harassed, and disrespected at work. There is no ethic of care and dignity extended to those who are the involuntary philanthropists of our community, who have given years of service and labor to these big businesses. A few years ago the vestry at St. Augustine's struggled with whether to pay the custodian/sexton a living wage or to just pay the going rate. They decided to pay a living wage for this contracted service, to be assured that this worker had a just wage and the option of receiving benefits.
At the end of the day, this is what matters in our church and in our community; not how much work we can squeeze out of people and then dump them when we are done, but how we might all take responsibility for nurturing and building a healthy, happy community. This is an important moment in Santa Monica. It is about how we treat one another and how we love our neighbors. The SMART Living Wage Campaign kick-off is scheduled for the afternoon of September 22 with a guest appearance from Peter, Paul, and Mary (more details to come). They will remind us of the force.
Note: On Sunday, September 1 (Labor Day Weekend), there will be a forum from 10-11 AM in Pierson Hall about community activism regarding labor issues and the Santa Monica Living Wage Campaign.
Copyright © 2002 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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