As the new Wal-Mart opens yesterday, we are hopeful that it will come to be celebrated in Ithaca not only for low prices and a wide selection of merchandise, but also for paying a living wage.

Along with seven other community leaders, I recently shared this hope in a letter to Wal-Mart. The letter was co-signed by Mayor Carolyn Peterson, County Legislature Chair Tim Joseph, Vice-Chair Mike Lane, Town of Ithaca Supervisor Cathy Valentino, Alternatives Federal Credit Union CEO Bill Myers, Reverend Wendy Fambro of the First Baptist Church, UAW Local 2300 President Terry Sharpe, Ithaca School Board member Jeff Furman and Latino Civic Association President Carlos Gutierrez.

In another letter to Wal-Mart, 29 local ministers and other clergy shared similar concerns. Two meetings with representatives from Wal-Mart have also occurred, the latest just last week.

We believe in the values of fairness, the importance of supporting working families and corporate accountability to communities. It is unfair to pay less than a living wage, the amount an individual or family needs to live modestly without extra assistance, to workers who are doing all that their employer and their society asks of them. You work hard all day and all week but then at the end of the week find that your paycheck cannot support you and your family. That’s wrong. And Wal-Mart, with over $9 billion in net profit last year alone, is surely one company that can afford to do better.

How much better does Wal-Mart have to do? Full-time cashiers and sales associates average in the $14-15,000/year range according to a national study which used actual Wal-Mart payroll data. This is at least 15 percent less than a living wage in Ithaca, which was calculated two years ago as $17,540 for a single individual, plus health insurance. For a full-time worker who works the whole year, this comes out to $8.44/hour. But Wal-Mart’s local starting wage is $6.50 and the average wage is “close to the $8 range,” according to Wal-Mart’s Northeast Community Affairs Director, quoted in the Ithaca Journal.

Then there is the issue of health insurance. Family coverage costs a Wal-Mart employee $1,700/year with a $1,000 deductible. On earnings of $15,000, many cannot afford this health plan. In fact, less than half of Wal-Mart employees are covered by the company plan. What happens next is not surprising: a study in Tennessee found that fully 25 percent of Wal-Mart’s employees in that state (and Wal-Mart is the largest employer there, like most states) were enrolled in and receiving benefits from TennCare, its expanded Medicaid program. Other studies have confirmed this fact. Wal- Mart is not only the company with the highest profit, it is also the company with the highest number of employees receiving taxpayer-funded assistance for low-income working families. Is there something wrong with this picture?

The many working families in our community whose low wages force them to monitor their spending carefully will benefit greatly from the wide selection and low prices that Wal-Mart promises. They will also benefit from making a living wage and from fair and equitable treatment on the job. So will our whole community. If Wal-Mart can start people at $9/hour elsewhere (Secaucus, N.J.), why is it $6.50 here?