At a rally organized by LIving Wage NYC at  City Hall yesterday, City Council Member Brad Lander (who represents Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington and Boro Park) along with other Brooklyn and NY city council members, verbally blasted the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) for spending (they say wasting) $1 million on a living wage study that they believed was rigged in support of Mayor Bloomberg’s opposition to the concept of a living wage.

Bloomberg supports the concept of an arbitrary minimum wage that may or may not have anything to do with where the person lives and whether it’s actually a livable salary for someone living in, say, New York City, one of the most expensive cities on the planet.

A living wage is wage based upon the cost of living in an area, rather than an arbitrary minimum.

In an ideal world: someone who works an ordinary 40 hour per week job would be able to afford shelter, food, health care, and other basic necessities of life. What a concept!

Existing legislation defines a living wage in New York City as a minimum of $10 per hour with benefits, or $11.50 per hour without benefits. Good luck living on that anywhere in New York City. (Click here for the Living Wage Calculator).

Opponents of the EDC’s report backed up their frustration with a report exposing Charles River Associates (CRA), the group chosen by the EDC, as a management consulting firm that is actually opposed to  living wage and even minimum wage policies.

A detailed report was written about the Charles River Group by the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) and the National Employment Law Project (NELP), two highly respected economic research groups.

Read more at the website of Living Wage NYC. Photograph of Brad Lander by Tom Martinez.