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6. Conclusion: “Come, Walk with Us, the Journey is Long”
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140 6 Conclusion “Come, Walk with Us, the Journey Is Long” At the IWJ national conference in 2007, one of the first tasks of the opening plenary was learning a song. IWJ’s energetic, music-loving, executive director Kim Bobo usually chooses a song for every national conference and leads the assembled activists in its initial singing. Gathered in the large multifunctional performing arts/meeting space, hundreds of IWJ local affiliate staff and volunteers, union leaders and organizers , and students followed the piano, guitars, and Bobo’s enthusiastic musical direction. The song would be sung at the beginning of all plenaries during the three-day conference and on the way to a group protest. That year’s chosen song was South African in origin, with words provided in English and the final arrangement done by Bobo. 1. Come, walk with us, the journey is long. Come, walk with us, the journey is long (repeat) The journey, the journey, the journey is long. The journey, the journey, the journey is long (repeat) 2. Share our burden, and join in the song. Share our burden, and join in the song (repeat) The journey, the journey, the journey is long. The journey, the journey, the journey is long (repeat) 3. Come, uplift us, and bring us new life. Come, uplift us, and bring us new life (repeat) The journey, the journey, the journey is long. The journey, the journey, the journey is long (repeat) 4. Give us peace when the journey is done. Give us peace when the journey is done (repeat). The journey, the journey, the journey is long. The journey, the journey, the journey is long .(repeat)1 “Come, Walk with Us, the Journey Is Long” 141 As voices joined together, the song’s pace, rhythm, and words evoked many dimensions of IWJ’s and the living wage movement’s work. Hopeful and joyful in tone, the song also presents a wise realism and fierce perseverance. The song’s composers pair the expansive metaphor of “the journey” with the optimistic, determined yet patient “is long.” The whole of the song is sung like an active prayer, encouraging and inviting people to live faithful action. “Come, Walk with Us” is not timid, naïve, or narrow in its view of the journey. Rather, it reflects the role of living wage campaigns in the larger ecology of the worker justice movement in the United States. Municipal living wage ordinances—what Paul Sonn of the National Employment Project calls “traditional living wage laws”—are at a low point as a political strategy across the country.2 In 2010 fewer municipal ordinance campaigns were ongoing than in 2005. Many of the cities with current active campaigns are especially challenging cases, such as Nashville, where city charters disallow direct wage mandates by metro councils. Many cities, like Atlanta, Memphis, and Nashville, have also had to take valuable organizing time to fight statewide bans on municipal living wage laws (passed in Georgia, withdrawn in Tennessee). So what’s next for the living wage movement? The Living Wage Gateway In many ways, the living wage movement should be seen as an important gateway to other worker justice and community accountability struggles such as raising state and federal minimum wages, developing and enforcing anti-wage theft laws, demanding fair treatment of undocumented workers, and negotiating community benefit agreements. While wage standards are primary to many of these developments, they also are nested in a larger emphasis on worker dignity and community standards for economic development. Religious activists are also finding their home in these larger struggles. The most common next step for living wage coalitions has been to expand the coverage of municipal ordinances and to work for their enforcement. Activists work to extend coverage of these ordinances to more employees of the city (who may be under different payroll and benefits boards), direct contractors, and businesses receiving tax subsidies . In Memphis, for example, WIN has successfully expanded the [3.146.65.212] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 03:43 GMT) 142 “Come, Walk with Us, the Journey Is Long” coverage of their ordinance twice since its initial passage. But even with these legislative successes, a number of cities have not enforced their laws effectively. As the political scientist Stephanie Luce documents, many living wage coalitions have had to make great efforts to insure the implementation of ordinances.3 Some have established more “insider” channels such as enforcement advisory boards that work...