ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 TAG: 9608210065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
Carmen Gillespie, an 18-year-old pizza chef in Salem, is one of the relatively few Roanoke Valley residents who expects a larger paycheck when the minimum wage goes up Oct. 1. Though the increase might buy little more than one inexpensive pair of shoes, she is overjoyed.
President Clinton signed the new wage law Tuesday. It was a decision Gillespie's boss regretted - not because he can't afford it, but because he expects consumer goods prices to rise proportionately, leaving few people better off in the long run.
At the Salem Pizza Den restaurant, Gillespie makes $4.35 an hour as a cook. The menu includes pizza, pasta and submarine sandwiches. She has put in almost two years and uses her money to help pay the bills at home. She lives with her mother.
Gillespie is one of relatively few area people who will be affected by the change. An explosion of new jobs with minimal population growth has shrunk the pool of available workers in recent years, forcing employers to pay more to attract and keep their help.
There is a shortage of people to fill job openings paying less than $7 an hour without benefits, according to Marjorie Skidmore, manager of the Virginia Employment Commission's Roanoke office.
On a full-time, weekly basis, Gillespie is looking at an extra $16 before taxes on Oct. 1, raising her gross pay from $174 to $190. The second raise will add another $16. ``With that extra money, oh, that's going to help me more than I can explain,'' she said. Among her expenses: a recently purchased car and general courses she will begin next spring at Virginia Western Community College toward becoming a teacher.
More pay is only right, in her view. ``Everyone works really hard, especially in restaurants, and they are not getting paid enough and I think it's about time we do get noticed for what we do,'' she said. The money ``will help me feel better about the job I'm doing.''
The company can afford the raises, said Dennis Flannagan, managing partner for a locally owned chain of three Pizza Dens. Whereas wage-hike opponents feared cuts in small-business payrolls, no one will be laid off at Pizza Den, he said.
The extra dollars he must put in paychecks will come from charging higher prices, he said. He said he believes many other businesses will do the same.
Flannagan doesn't see the long-term impact of the higher minimum wage as good:
``Let's say Carmen has a car. Carmen has to put gas in that car. So the convenience store where she is buying the gas is going to have to pay its help more money. So obviously she is going to have to pay more for gas. When you get right down to it, it hasn't helped anybody,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN SPEARMAN/Staff. Carmen Gillespie said getting aby CNBhigher wage will help pay for college. color.