Faith Inspires Minimum Wage Increase in Arkansas

What happened?

In 2005, Arkansan faith leaders joined with many groups including the state’s branches of the NAACP and AFL-CIO to initiate the “Give Arkansas a Raise Now! campaign. The campaign, chaired by Rev. Steve Copley, pastor of First United Methodist Church in North Little Rock, sought to increase the state’s minimum wage from the current federally-mandated level of $5.15, a figure that had not been adjusted since 1997. Rev. Copley and his colleagues worked with Let Justice Roll, the national faith-based campaign for a higher minimum wage, to provide due compensation for low income workers in a state where mean family income was the second lowest in the nation.

On April 10, 2006, Gov. Mike Huckabee signed a bill increasing the minimum wage to $6.25, making Arkansas the first low-income state with a state-mandated wage higher than the federally-mandated wage. During the height of the campaign, Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and partner of the coalition, stated, “The leadership [was] really from the faith community.‿

What methods did faith leaders use?

The leaders of the “Give Arkansas a Raise Now!‿ campaign employed two strategies that helped to give their initiative the attention it needed to have an appreciable effect. First, organizers crafted a proposed constitutional amendment that required a $1.00 increase to the minimum wage and a provision that would annually adjust the wage according to inflation. They vowed to collect enough signatures to have their proposed legislation put on the November ballot as a referendum. Using a statewide network that connected at least two volunteers from each Arkansas county, the campaign gathered pages of signatures. A copy of the petition was also available online for new and willing volunteers to collect signatures on their own.

Second, campaign leaders hired an independent agency to conduct a statewide poll regarding a minimum wage increase. The poll demonstrated what Rev. Paul Sherry, director of Let Justice Roll, believes to be true. He said, “When people are presented with the facts about the minimum wage, people respond.‿ The poll revealed that 87 percent of the public supported the increase, giving the campaign a stronger legitimacy with which to push their issue.

What was their message?

Rev. Copley and organizers of the campaign strove to demonstrate the difficulty experienced by the 127,000 Arkansans who worked at the minimum wage. When paid a wage of $5.15 for 40 hours a week, an individual earns an income of $10,700, which is nearly $3,000 below the poverty line for one adult and one child. According to John Hill, director of economic and environmental justice for the Methodist Board of Church and Society, “A job should keep people out of poverty, not in it. This tears at our social fabric…It is an affront to our understanding of the United States as a land of opportunity. People who work should be paid enough to live a life of dignity.‿ The campaign and its message of denied dignity resonated with members of the faith community.

What challenges were faced?

Organizers were questioned about the appropriateness of basing a campaign for political change around precepts of faith. Rev. Copley responded that their proposal “isn’t just a religious issue… [Increasing] the minimum wage is an issue that religious people can support. It really doesn’t affect any church-state relationship.‿ The campaign also found some resistance in the business sector including opposition from Wal-Mart, to which Copley replied, “We tried to make the case that more money in the hands of the working poor would be a benefit to them.‿ Organizers and legislators disagreed over several details of the increase, but they continued to work together and settled upon a one-time increase of $1.10 that passed the 135-member legislature with only 3 dissenting votes.

How can you use this example?

The “Give Arkansas a Raise Now‿ campaign succeeded because of its proactive approach. By crafting their own legislative proposal, organizers were able to speak to Arkansas citizens and leverage lawmakers with a concrete document. By commissioning and publicizing a poll that demonstrated that the public supported their cause, the campaign attracted greater attention and momentum. Legislators were more apt to favor a proposal already documented to be favored by their constituencies. Efforts to raise the minimum wage within individual states have already begun in several places, including Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Arizona, and North Carolina. The campaign to raise the federally-mandated wage continues as well, notably through the work of Let Justice Roll. These efforts and other related ones will require the work of people of faith who espouse the dignity of work in the contemporary world.

Key Links

Arkansas’ Working Families Get Long-Overdue Raise, Let Justice Roll press release

Give Arkansas a Raise Campaign Website

“A Just Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Buinesses and Our Future‿ (Report by Holly Sklar and The Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry of Let Justice Roll)