Wage Increase

Top state officials have quietly signed a work contract that is making Maryland history: They are providing a "living wage."Under the contract, the state will pay about two dozen janitors at the World Trade Center in downtown Baltimore $6.60 an hour, more than $2 above the federal minimum wage of $4.25.Today, the trade center janitors get their first improved paychecks, and Gov. Parris N. Glendening will hold an afternoon news conference announcing the increase.The wage increase, approved by the state Board of Public Works last month, is part of a growing movement to ensure that full-time workers are paid above the poverty line in hopes they can avoid using public subsidies to survive.

IF ANY additional confirmation of the splitting of America were needed, the Census Bureau has now confirmed that low-wage work in the United States is increasing dramatically. This finding comes on the heels of a recent Congressional Budget Office report that 70 percent of the total income gain between 1977 and 1989 went to the richest 1 percent of Americans.This latest Census report, titled "Workers with Low Earnings: 1964-1990" (released May 11), documents declining living standards -- not among the unemployed or the down-and-out, but among people who work year round, full time.

WASHINGTON -- Although facing likely rejection by the Republican-majority Congress, President Clinton yesterday proposed raising the minimum wage by 90 cents over two years, to $5.15 per hour."

NEW YORK -- Employees of many airlines in recent years have exchanged pay and privilege for company stock. The idea was to stanch the carriers' heavy losses and let them compete with low-cost competitors, most notably Southwest Airlines Co.Southwest is about to turn the tactic back on its rivals. The airline's pilots union agreed yesterday to freeze members' wages for five years in return for options to buy Southwest shares and a possible share of future profits.If the pilots vote for the agreement, as expected, Southwest's competitors may be right back where they started.

WASHINGTON -- As Republican leaders grudgingly moved toward consideration of a minimum-wage increase yesterday, Vice President Al Gore predicted that Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole "will cave to pressure" and agree to an increase sought by Democrats."

Workers hoping that their wage increases will beat inflation should find some cheer next year. Employees are expected to see their paychecks grow by an average of 3.5 percent in 2007, according to projections by several compensation surveys. That should beat expected inflation of 2 percent to 3 percent, continuing a shift that began in recent months as the labor market has tightened and energy costs have fallen. Wage increases had generally lagged behind inflation since the 2001 recession.

I WAS JUST a young boy back in 1938, when Congress debated the proposed Fair Labor Standards Act -- the "minimum wage bill."According to the record, the proponents declared: "A bill of this kind is very necessary if we are going to help the underpaid workers of our country, reduce the relief rolls and spread employment."The opponents responded: "This wage-hour bill is political and not economic; it will increase unemployment, not decrease it. Instead of providing more work [it] will create more unemployment because it would further stimulate the use of labor-saving machinery."

Casting their votes in front of about 100 angry county employees, the Howard County Council voted 3-2 last night to abolish a law designed to give county employees a 5 percent pay raise each year.The employees didn't stick around for the rest of the meeting -- leaving en masse amid loud sighs, scattered boos and more than one curse under the breath.Outside in the hallway, the police officers, sheriff's deputies, firefighters and laborers -- most still in uniform -- gathered around their respective union leaders.

A lower-than-expected increase in wage and benefits costs helped ease worries yesterday that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month and sent stock prices soaring.The Dow Jones industrial average, the most widely followed market gauge, rose 227.64 points, closing at 10,622.53. The rally extended Wednesday's 92-point gain. It was the Dow's biggest advance since it rose 235.24 on Sept. 3.The market has been dominated in recent weeks by debate on inflation and interest rates.

Bill Tiefenwerth might have felt a bit nostalgic one day last week. Outside his office windows on the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University were the sounds of strident speeches and the sight of waving banners, even a bit of guerrilla theater.It was a political demonstration, once as common as final exams at a place like Hopkins, but something of an endangered species for the past couple of decades. They have made a comeback this year, not only at Hopkins but also at universities across the country.