In October 2022, the Progressive Democrats of Guam (PDG) unveiled their platform to transform Guam for the better. Among the top priorities of PDG is to move toward a living wage on Guam. As the proverb goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The first step on our journey for economic justice for the working class of Guam is to restore the purchasing power of our minimum wage to the level from the beginning of 2015.
Every worker, regardless of their age, sex at birth, gender identity, assigned race, ethnicity, national origin, or disability status, must be paid enough to provide a good quality of life for their family with full time work. Advanced societies like Guam or the United States can ensure that every worker will be paid at least a living wage for their contributions to our common prosperity.
Workers on Guam have become increasingly productive, but their total compensation, wages, salaries, and benefits, do not reflect this increase in productivity. Regressive income tax cuts have rewarded those with high incomes, while wages have stagnated and price rises have redistributed income and wealth from the middle class to big business and elites of the owning and managerial classes.
During the pandemic on Guam and in the United States, we have begun to see what is possible when our community pulls together. The resources of the United States, produced by the work of hundreds of millions, carried the country through the greatest challenge of this century. For a time, childhood poverty declined 46% due to a public policy of increasing the child tax credit. Much can be done to improve the lives of our people, when we pool our resources to combat economic injustice and poverty.
Examining the facts about poverty in the United States, it is apparent that almost all poverty is linked to low earnings. From Guam’s experience with increasing the minimum wage, it has been demonstrated that raising the minimum wage does not have any discernable negative effect on employment, hours worked, or benefits provided to workers. Thus, if history is any guide, increasing the minimum wage could be expected to reduce poverty among workers and their families.
Restoring the purchasing power of the minimum wage is not the achievement of economic justice, but it is a step in the right direction. Solidarity!
GuamMinimumWage.org 