From Moral Values to Moses

After the dust had settled on election night, it was especially satisfying to learn that ballot referendums to increase the minimum wage had been approved easily in all six states where they appeared. I was especially pleased to see it had won in Colorado, where it faced stiff opposition in a traditionally conservative-voting state.

The successful campaign in Colorado was helped immeasurably by the advocacy work of UU congregations and individuals in mobilizing support, as well as in using the media to promote the cause. One especially effective tool was an op-ed in the Denver Post, one of the two largest newspapers in Colorado. The op-ed, titled “Colorado minimum wage – Hike is the right thing morally, economically,” was co-authored by the Rev. Jann Halloran, minister of the Prairie UU Church in Aurora, Colo., and argues persuasively that the ballot initiative helps to reduce poverty while at the same time benefiting the state’s overall economy.

UUSC is working hard through Wage Justice, our living wage initiative, to promote increases in state minimum wages and ultimately in the federal minimum wage. As a member of the Let Justice Roll coalition of more than 70 faith-based organizations, we worked with our UU colleagues in Colorado to help organize support for the referendum among Colorado businesses.

The hard-fought campaign in Colorado also produced some of the more unusual – some would say offensive – political advertisements. One TV ad used images of a cheese grater and a toilet paper roll to show how “painful” a higher minimum wage would be. Another invoked an image of Moses, shown holding stone tablets on a mountain, complaining to God that the ballot question would chisel the minimum wage into Colorado’s constitution.