August 30, 2006

Today the Township of Lawrence had its day in court against the Lawrence Living Wage Coalition. State Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg presided.

Representing the Lawrence Living Wage Coaliton were Falk Engel, Bennett Zurofski, and from the NYU Brennan Center for Justice, Jennifer Sung and Paul Sonn.

Representing Lawrence Township was Kevin Nerwinski.

And sliding in at just past the 11th hour, in an e-mailed brief to Feinberg last night, the NJ Retail Merchants Association filed a motion to intervene. Judge Feinberg accepted the motion. The attorney for the Merchants Association was a Mr. Genova, who is the top NJ Democratic Party attorney.

At the beginning of the hearing, Feinberg stated that she'd already made up her mind to side with the Township, but she was open to arguments from our side.

The Merchant's Association attorney proceeded to argue most of the Township's case. In other words, Lawrence Township let Big Business do the Townhsip's bidding.

On our side, Jennifer Sung cited case after case favoring our side of the argument: that the State of NJ has set a minimum wage but hasn't forbidden municipalities to require higher wages to ensure the well-being of its residents.

Deliberations centered around whether or not the State of NJ, when setting a minimum wage, permits municipalities to set higher wages. There was some talk of conflict with equal protection laws being violated by our ordinance singling out only large retailers, but Jennifer gave the right answer: We are starting with the retailers who can afford to pay higher wages and who are doing the most harm by paying poverty wages instead.

In the end, Judge Feinberg stuck to her original opinion. She said she would be inclined to add more to it before releasing it, but she was about to go on vacation, so she'd let the opinion stay as is.

Naturally, we are disappointed, but we are not surprised.

So, what do we do now?

We appeal. Our attorneys feel that there are enough holes in Feinberg's decision to warrant another look at our case, so we will take our arguments to the Appellate Court. Our coalition is getting bigger. Larger, statewide, and even national groups could soon be joining our campaign.

Meanwhile, it is important for all of us to show up at the September 5 Township Council meeting. Public comment starts at 7 pm. The Township might have won this battle, but it hasn't won the war. We have not been beaten down. Come to the public hearing and let the Township Council know that we will still work towards our morally responsible ordinance: a living wage that allows people who work in Lawrence Township to live in Lawrence Township. Our campaign has implications far beyond Lawrence Township.

To quote Linda Feinberg from today's hearing, "The living wage movement is alive and well." Let's keep it that way!

-- Laura Lynch