San Antonio College Library

Across the United States tens of millions of people are working 40 or more hours a week ... and living in poverty. This is surprising in a country where politicians promise that anyone who does their share, and works hard, will get ahead. In Ending Poverty as We Know It, Quigley argures that it is time to make good on that promise by adding to the Constitution language that insures those who want to work can do so at a wage that affords them reasonable...

With almost one-third of all working people today earning wages below the official poverty line, community coalitions around the country have responded by proposing "living wage" ordinances at the municipal level. This book analyzes the specifics of this new economic concept, as well as documents the results of its implementation in cities around the nation. Illustrated.

"A Living Wage," the rallying cry of union activists, is a concept with a revealing history, here documented by Lawrence B. Glickman. The labor movement's response to wages shows how American workers negotiated the transition from artisan to consumer, opening up new political possibilities for organized workers. At the same time, however, they created contradictions that continue to haunt the labor movement today. Nineteenth-century workers saw wages...