Next up: Dec 8 - Wages, Income, Equality

Our next Penny U will turn towards the recent political movement towards a higher minimum wage—in Seattle and nationwide. We will ask: What does $15/hr represent? Is it a goal or a starting point, too little or too much too soon? Is it a living wage, and what does that mean in the context of our economy, where so much work is becoming contingent? Our goal is to reflect on Seattle’s political process towards $15 and look beyond to the national and global question of wages and inequality.

We will also look back on Town Hall programs this year that have touched on the question, including our Reclaiming Prosperity events with Robert Reich, Andy Stern, and Manuel Pastor, as well as locally focused events like our evening with newly elected City Councilmember Kshama Sawant on socialism, and our public hearing on the city’s minimum wage legislation. We will investigate the case for $15 as it’s been made at Town Hall and consider it in the context of Penny U’s larger theme: What consequences will this movement have for the many forms of work that are done in society, compensated and uncompensated, and how will it fit into a rapidly shifting technological economy?

We hope you come to December’s Penny U with your thoughts on the process of moving toward a higher minimum wage as you’ve seen it play out in our city, and with your hopes or fears about the movement more broadly. Also valuable would be your personal history as a worker, wage earner, or employer and how it has shaped your life and values around work, compensation, and equality.

Please join us at 5:30 pm on December 8 for the conversation!

NOTE:  Many thanks to Edward for pulling this focus together.

REFERENCES for this conversation

Manuel Pastor at Town Hall:

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=5201318&file=1

Robert Reich at Town Hall: http://townhallseattle.org/event/robert-reich/

Kshama Sawant at Town Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ECYB3RJk0 

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