In the name of charity

A recent editorial in the Sonoma Index-Tribune heaped gobs of approbation on the charitable exploits of the Valley vintners and growers. In this case the wine industry recognized the critical need for early education in English and math, and in particular for English language learners and economically disadvantaged students, i.e., those from low income households. The amount quoted to go toward boosting early academic achievement was $400,000 on an annual basis to be raised through charity auctions and events. 

That number sounds impressive until one considers that the Sonoma County Growers and the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers took in $483,500 in one Labor Day weekend charity auction. In fact it’s a pittance in comparison with wine industry annual revenues, which were estimated at $2.5 billion in 2005. 

Okay, so what, you might think, isn’t that charity a good thing for a good cause? Well, yes, but it’s also a ploy to promote the seeming generosity and beneficence of a hugely successful industry and the ancillary businesses that feed off it. In other words, charity is great public relations with a fat dose of feel-good for the donors to boot. I suppose it’s a win-win from their perspective. But is it really? Reality paints a different picture. 

The problem is wages 

According to the Employment Development Department the median wage in 2012 for vineyard or winery workers was $10.90 an hour. That is a startlingly low wage for the hard, laborious work required. How does an industry that is raking in billions a year in revenues justify paying a far less than living wage to its workers? 

The City of Sonoma has set its living wage scale at $15.15 /hr. for city employees and some businesses contracting with the city. That wage sure as hell beats the median vineyard or winery worker’s wage of $10.90 /hr., but can even $15.15 in actuality be called a “living wage?” 

A friend comments that $15 /hr. may keep an individual on life support with a pulse, but it’s hardly a living wage. How much do you imagine is left over for a family of 2, 3, or 4 after paying rent, food, utilities, phone, insurance, transportation or car payments and gas, and clothing? To say nothing of the unexpected bills that always seem to crop up. 

Assuming the average worker is working a 40-hour week at the pay scale of $15/hr., it amounts to $2400 /month. Does anyone with a shred of common sense or a semblance of economic justice imagine someone earning that wage is remotely living it up? And that’s at a so-called living wage. 

It’s not charity that’s needed 

Just like the corporations and large business interests, the National Chamber of Commerce, and their political puppets in Washington have kept the minimum wage at a miserly and pathetic $7.25 /hr., and the states not much better. Business will always wail and moan that higher wages will put them out of business and thereby there will be fewer jobs. It’s a load of crap and always has been. Again, the wine industry in Sonoma County exceeds $2.5 billion annually. 

I don’t see a lot of vineyards and wineries going out of business, do you? Quite the contrary. Take a ride up Highway 12 through the Valley and it seems like more land going to vineyards and wineries every day. 

I’ll stand up and applaud and praise the Valley wine industry when it pays a minimum REAL living wage of $20 /hr. I can just hear the moans and groans from SVVGA and our local Chamber, but look at it this way. There won’t be any further need for your charity, and you’ll save $400,000 a year. 

When low-income families are brought out of the poverty level, study after study shows that (on average) academic achievement of their children improves. There’s a direct correlation. The single biggest contributing factor in low academic achievement is economically disadvantaged families. So change that equation and math and English early learners (on average) will achieve greater success. 

So keep your charity and pay a fair and just wage. Now that’s what I call a win-win.