10
act it!
P ICKING UP your 2002 Aggieland is
easy. If you ordered a book, look for
the distribution table today in front of
the Reed McDonald Building. (Go to
the Reed McDonald basement in case
of inclement weather.) Please bring
your Student ID. If you did not order
last year's Texas A&M yearbook (the
2001-2002 school year), you may pur
chase one for $40 plus tax in 015 Reed
McDonald. Hours: 9 a.m. — 4:30 p.m.
Monday-Friday. Cash, checks, Aggie
Bucks, VISA, MasterCard, Discover
and American Express accepted.
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
NAT10\
TH E BATTalS
Congress fails to act on
minimum wage increase
WASHINGTON (AP)
Diane Cunningham, a home
health care worker in Chicago,
is thankful she didn't have to
rely on Congress to raise the
minimum wage, or even to con
sider the idea. She'd still be
waiting.
“They don’t want to do what
they need to (do) to help poor
people,” said Cunningham, 41,
who got a raise after a living
wage ordinance passed in
Chicago. “They think more
about rich people. It’s not fair to
people that’s working.”
The last federal minimum
wage increase was in 1997,
when it jumped 40 cents to
$5.15 an hour from $4.75.
Democrats had hoped to
wrangle passage of a minimum
wage increase this year by pair
ing it with tax cuts to win
Republican support. But even
that incentive hasn’t broken
through the Senate’s political
bottleneck, and state and local
governments are increasingly
trying to take up the slack.
The Democratic measure,
introduced by Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., would have
raised the wage to $5.75 an hour
this year, $6.25 next year and
$6.65 in 2004.
President Bush had signaled
that he might accept a small
increase, but only if states were
allowed to opt out. Opposition
from some powerful business
lobbies, including the National
Federation of Independent
Business and the National
Restaurant Association, have
dimmed prospects for a wage
increase anytime soon.
Congress’ inaction has
fueled a groundswell of action
at the state and local level. Ten
states and the District of
Columbia have raised their min
imum wages higher than the
federal government's. A nation
wide movement has resulted in
more than 90 “living-wage”
ordinances, and more than 70
other campaigns are under way.
Living wage ordinances
vary, but generally they set an
Wage wars
Recent efforts to increase the federal!
minimum wage have not made much ]
progress in Congress. The last
increase was in 1997, though 10
states and the District of Columbia
have raised their minimum wage's
above the federal government's.
1
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Federal minimum wage
In 2002 dollars 1
Sp
SOURCE: Department of Labor
apI
hourly rate of pay that would
contends that a majority of mu™
Hi
enable a local wage-earner to
i mum-wage earners alj
k’y v*
support a family of four above
the federal poverty level.
teenagers or young adultswiM]
out families to support. |
Usually, ordinances apply to
companies that do business
with a city or county govern
ment or receive local govern
ment subsidies.
Some workers now are paid
as much as $12 an hour if they
work for a company with a city
or county contract.
Of the 72.5 million U.S.
workers paid by the hour. 2.2
million — about 3 percent — are
paid at or below the minimum
wage, according to 2001 Bureau
of Labor Statistics figures.
Supporters of an increase
argue that the minimum wage is
worth much less today than it
was decades ago. For instance,
throughout the 1960s and
1970s, the minimum wage was
worth more than $5.50 an hour
in today’s dollars, based on
inflation.
Opponents say businesses
would have to cut jobs and ben
efits to pay for the raise. The
Employment Policies Institute,
a business-supported think tank.
Institute, a labor-supponi
think tank that supports
increase, claims that 60 perca
of the workers who would bes
fit from an increase are won*
68 percent are adults, ISperct
are black and 14 percent i
Hispanic.
Bill Samuel, legislate
director for the AFL-C10,
labor federation ot 65 uniu
said he remains hopefclftj
Congress will take up am
mum-wage increase after j
midterm election recess,
history of it is, it's hardtof^j
on its own, and that’s jusu
fact,” Samuel said. “Butwe’l
not giving up.’’
“It’s a political issue,’c|
tends Pat Cleary, vice presifc
for human resources polio
the National Association |
Manufacturers. “We ah
fight it in an election ysj
There's almost no correlal
between the minimum wage.|
poverty.”
11
Church excommunicate
woman ordained as pries
First-yt
spider
CLEVELAND (AP) — A
former Ohio first lady revealed
Tuesday that she was secretly
ordained as a Roman Catholic
priest earlier this year and then
excommunicated by the
church.
Dagmar Braun Celeste, ex-
wife of former Gov. Richard
Celeste, said she was the only
American among seven women
who were ordained as priests
by Bishops Romolo Braschi of
Argentina and Rafael
Regelsberger of Austria on
June 29 in a ceremony on a
boat on the Danube River
between Germany and Austria.
The church excommunicat
ed the women July 22.
Archbishop Tarcisio
Bertone of the Vatican said the
ordination attacked “the funda
mental structure of the Church
as it was wanted by its
founder.” Church teaching
holds that because Jesus chose
men to be his apostles, only
males can serve in the priest
hood.
The women have appealed
their excommunication.
Celeste, 60, said she was
ordained under the pseudonym
Angela White because she did
not want to divert attention
from her daughter’s wedding.
However, she added, “It was
always agreed that I was not
going to be an anonymous
priest.”
Celeste said she has not cel
ebrated Mass or performed
other priestly duties such as
confession or consecration of
the Eucharist, but would do j
if asked.
“Women, just like
deserve to follow their u I
science and calling, CeN‘|
said. She said she did not '
sider the possibility ofbecoj
ing a priest until after her
divorce from her husbando
years, who was Ohio s go'M
nor from 1983 to 1991.
Po
By
TH
Women, just Be
men, deserve to
follow their
conscience
and
calling.
a, sai
locations
Republican
| w the depa
Creel
I students tc
| dioose not
Dagmar Braun
Celeste
former Ohio first lady
Celeste runs Tyrian,
Cleveland nonprofit min
group. She was born m |
Austria, a small city o I
Danube, and holds dual c z
ship in the United States"
Austria. nrdinatiol
The Women s Ordinal
Conference, of which Ce I
a former board mem e > |
ports the ordinations, sp
woman Erin Hanley sai •
-1 ,hink it’s another step
the process of wo ™ en itinj ,fo(
tired of sitting and w || aS
from a system that" i
e 39
hatch,
from
anfs
body;
becomes
adult fly
Syr