The following appeared on San Jose website on Oct. 15
Statement of Bishop Patrick McGrath on Measure D, Raising the Minimum Wage
Office of the Bishop
I have been asked by some people whom I respect to endorse Measure D that would raise the minimum wage in the City of San Jose to $10. At the same lime, others—whom I also respect—have advised me to remain silent on this issue
I have read the arguments put forward by both sides and I am torn.
I understand the plight of minimum wage earners who cannot raise a family on $320 per week. I appreciate that the minimum wage has remained artificially low by failures—on either a national or local level—to implement incremental increases over the last lour decades.
However, I share the fear of those who lament that the measure before San Jose voters is too broad, that some of the low-wage earners are high school students: others speculate that an increase in the minimum wage will make San Jose a city in which it is too costly to dine in a restaurant. They would let the market drive whatever changes are necessary.
Having given much consideration to these and other factors, I have been conflicted as to how I will vote and whether I should or could address this matter in any public fashion. Today I have decided that I can and I will.
Given the complex matters involved in this issue, there is a margin of error.
If I am to err, then I will do so according to my conscience, in favor of “the least of my brothers and sisters,” to use words from the Gospel of Matthew.
If I must come down on one side or the other, I will cast my lot with the workers who are at the margins, who are barely surviving or even slipping deeper into poverty.
Yes, a meal out may cost more and other services that we depend upon in also take a larger bite out of our wallets and purses, but to enjoy these at the expense of so many individuals in the service industries who—as hard as they work—cannot take enough pay home to support their loved ones is, to me, unconscionable.
I will, therefore, vote yes on Measure D on November 6 and I encourage you to vote your conscience on this issue.
With the government issuing fiat money, there would likely be a lot of benefit to raising minimum wage. But why is a bishop waiting tables instead of saving souls?
Why are you hard of hearing? HE IS showing you how you can save your soul, by showing mindfulness to those who are at the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
Read St Augustine on the role of money changers in the Church, and then read the Gospel on how Jesus dealt with them. How many would laugh, how many would cry, and how many would cheer Jesus using a whip to drive out the bishops who are changing money from His Church?
Oh, did I say “money changers”? I meant administrators. BTW, the number of bishops in the USA is like the hours in the day … not sure if there are too many of them or not enough of them.
Right Mike, you help them by putting them out of a job!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Great comment, Mike.
Ok, bishop, does that mean you will raise the wages of the people who work in your parishes to $10 per hour? In your diocesan offices? Instead of relying mostly on FREE volunteers, how about some compensation for them. It costs a volunteer a LOT of money in gas, wear and tear on the car, etc in order to make it to their local parish several times a month to do volunteer work, a significant expense. Do you believe in ‘social justice’ for volunteers? Let’s see, $10 per hour for the clerk at the grocery, for the cart collection boy/girl, the floor sweeper, the gas station attendant, the bagger, the burger flipper, the car wipe guy at the car wash, the stock person, etc, etc, etc. That should leave about ONE THIN DIME for the Sunday collection plate! Sounds fair to me!
COLE, don’t be silly.
volunteers give of their time and talents and money freely becasue they WANT to and because they CAN.
somebody flipping burgers does so because she MUST to pay for rent.
get a clue.
Some employers, faced with the horrible economy, will lay off workers. Their paycheck then goes from $320 to ZERO. Business people cannot afford to lose money. Sadly, they can’t live on love, justice, or compassion any more than the wage earner. The marketplace makes it so. Businesses must be competitive and hold costs down. Mandating that costs go up will have an effect on how many people can be employed. That’s the clue businesses have, and it’s called reality.
It is very sad that every election year politicians, mostly Democrats, trot out the minimum wage to pretend to be for the poor. In reality the politicians are only looking out for themselfs because the poor will still earn the minimum wage even if you were to raise it to $1000.00/hour you will still earn the minimum wage. So how does this benefit the poor? It doesn’t but it does affect him because the business owner now has 2 options one fire employees to make up for the loss of revenue or raise his prices, thus rendering the new minimum wage inefective. The only ones who benift are the politicians and government union workers whose wages go up with the raise of the minimum wage.
You want to help the poor…. give them good schools and teachers and educate them!
Where do they get these CA bishops: McGrath, Blair, Ochoa?? Any of them worry about, oh, salvation of those under their — theoretical — care? Bishop McGrath is simply nutty about the minimum wage: pay is not kept “artificially” low (except by the very fact of the minimum wage laws themselves). What will happen is that there will be more and more restaurants that will leave SJ, ultimately, as there comes a point where price increases cannot be passed along to the dining public. The concept of a minimum wage is repugnant to free enterprise, in any event; bargaining with your employees about their wages is the way to go, and they will have more success, ultimately. There is simply no free lunch, Bishop McGrath. If anyone feel generous, then give additional money into the poor box at Church, or to any number of wonderful charities. Sorry, bishop, the gospels do not require economic stupidity (although they do require holiness, Excellency: when was the last time you sponsored a TLM in your diocese, or told the large homosexual community there that they cannot have sex the way they like it and be saved?).
Minimum wage guarantees inflation of prices. It is that simple. Perhaps that is why the persecutor of “Our Lady of Peace” can’t understand it, it is too simple.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Bishop McGrath: I agree with your spirit of charity and mercy; however, there will be a substantial unintended consequence. Pure and simple, people get laid off when wages are raised, especially the minimum wage, and there is plenty of empirical evidence. While you will benefit some workers with a little more money, you will condemn others to a job search.
There is nothing better to cheer me up than to hear a churchman lecturing society on how to treat its workers. Ask any of us who have been employed by the Catholic Church what we think of that. After we stop rolling around on the floor laughing we just say “you must be kidding! in my many years of work, in different fields, with different employers, I have never been treated as poorly by anyone else as I was treated by the Church. Least of my brothers, my ear!”
I remember when Cardinal Mahony came to Los Angeles. He had been the big champion of unionizing the farm workers. Cesar Chavez & Viva La Huelga! His 1st action here was to crush the grave diggers union and cause those poor guys immeasurable harm. Hypocrisy is the Motto!
This is an excellent example of why bishops should stay out of politics unless there is an intrinsic moral evil involved (e.g. abortion, pornography, active euthanasia). Bishop McGrath, the minimum wage hurts the poor. Studies show it causes higher unemployment among unskilled laborers. Businesses can only afford to pay their unskilled labor so much; often they are teens looking to get a start in the working world. Please keep your focus on matters more directly involved with the Church; leave business and economics to those who are more knowledgeable in the area.
“More knowledgeable in the area”, Do you realize that means almost anyone!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
I thought the ordained were supposed to lead us to holiness. Instead a self-appointed few are converting to becoming Advisors to the Flock on Matter of Economics, Politics and the Law. I now understand that the term, “Catholic convert,” obviously means one thing for the ordained and something else for the rest of us.
Bishop McGrath just demonstrated his economic illiteracy and ineptitude. Why don’t you focus on the Catholic identity of your schools and parishes, Your Excellency?
What a shock!
Actually, this is a little surprising. The surprising thing is that His Grace would even claim that he hesitated for a moment.
San Jose is one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. Price-wise it’s like living on the French Riviera. People whose job skills match $10/hr jobs shouldn’t migrate to San Jose in the first place, yet they do in massive numbers which drives wages down. They need to move to places like Texas where nice houses are available at a quarter of the price (or less) of San Jose’s and gas is a lot cheaper. If an outward migration produces a shortage of low-wage laborers, wages will naturally rise for those who remain.
Gasoline cost to me in California compared to, say, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, runs an extra $1500 per year at the present prices. That is with a modest driven distance of 15,000 miles per year. So, California govt is spending $1500 x 20,000,000 drivers = $3,000,000,000 or 3 billion dollars in state tax revenue, not counting the trucking industry or professional car drivers. So, estimating the tax revenue from all the fuel one might come up with a figure of about ten billion dollars: What does the state of California buy with this besides welfare votes?
Many of the lowest-wage earners on the rungs of San Jose’s economic ladder are illegal aliens, or undocumented workers, or whatever the politically correct phrase of the moment is for people who shouldn’t be working here. Rental properties in San Jose and virtually all the cities in the entire Bay Area are among the most expensive in the nation, yet we see the unemployed flock here to work for the well-paid employees of the high tech industries for which Silicon Valley is known. I grew up there and remember when it was agricultural, and I remember the Labor Day weekend in 1958 when Lockheed moved 30,000 people up from Southern California and changed the area forever. Prices shot up literally overnight, have stayed astronomical ever since, and $10/hour or even $20/hour will not bring workers to the standard of living they came here for, believing what they saw in American movies. They need to go home where they can work to make their own countries prosperous and make room for our countrymen get back to work too, even for minimum wage, or whatever they can negotiate. Americans will take their jobs when unemployment is the alternative. I love the Latino people and culture, speak Spanish, have several Spanish-speaking friends and a lovely Spanish-speaking goddaughter, so please don’t decide that I am prejudiced. I just have the audacity at my age to speak the truth out loud.
Texas may have lower house costs but they sure have very high property taxes, so it’s not that cheap as people presume.
“Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community.” CCC 2428 This has been the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church for over 130 years. “A just wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice. In determining fair pay both the needs and the contribution of each person must be taken into account. “Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good. Agreement between the parties is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages. CCC 2434
I hope that the Bishop knows that Senior Citizens are also suffering. They have not gotten a cost of living increase in the last two years under the OBAMA Administration – while food, gas and utilities continue to rise.
With cost of living and inflation, folks will not be able to eat out which harms small businesses.
When small businesses go out of business or can no longer hire, then jobs are lost especailly jobs for the poor.
The more small businesses are forced to pay – the fewer employees they will hire.
Governments at the Federal, State, and Local levels, businesses, and laity must all pay their debts according to the church teaching of “COMMUTATIVE Justice ……without which no other form of justice is possible” – CCC: 2411.
Until the economy recovers, and it will not under Obama, we will all suffer.
The Bishops should stick to Religion and the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” and stay out of the province of the Laity.
The bishop urgently needs a crash course in Econ 101. Empirical evidence abounds that shows the futility of raising the minimum wage. Doing so merely raises the baseline unions use as a starting point for wage negociations. It is ultimately inflationary and eventually self-defeating. Bishops should stay out of politics. Period!
And this bishop cannot talk about abortion, marriage and religious freedom!
O Lord, saves us from the snares of this devil!