Celebrate Living Wage Employers With "Buycott" Tuesday

UPDATE: Due to inclement weather, Tuesday’s “buycott” has been postponed to Thursday, May 26, at 6:30 pm.

Congress won’t raise the minimum wage, the General Assembly won’t raise the minimum wage, and the General Assembly won’t allow local governments to raise it either.

But until that changes, there are things we can do locally – like supporting businesses who pay their employees a living wage of their own accord.

The organization Orange County Living Wage has certified 58 businesses, nonprofits and municipal organizations as “living wage employers,” employers that pay all their employees $12.75 per hour (or $11.25 plus health benefits). Together, those businesses have raised their employees’ wages a combined $500,000 in order to qualify for certification. (The Town of Chapel Hill became the 58th employer on the list; in order to qualify, the town raised the wages of 110 employees by a combined total of $140,000.)

Get the full list of certified businesses here. (The $12.75-per-hour figure is a function of the cost of housing in Orange County.)

In order to celebrate the half-million-dollar milestone, and to reward a local business for making the living-wage commitment, Orange County Living Wage is holding a “buycott” – the opposite of a boycott – on Tuesday, May 3, beginning at 7 pm at Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe on West Franklin Street. The “buycott” will feature live music in the courtyard at 431 West Franklin.

Orange County Living Wage chair Susan Romaine and Vimala’s owner Vimala Rajendran spoke with Aaron Keck on WCHL.