Newspaper Page Text
Page 14 — Wednesday, August 25, 2021, The True Citizen
National Guard will help in COVID effort
DAVE WILLIAMS
Capitol Beat News Service
With COVID-19 cases and
hospitalizations still on the rise
in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp
deployed the Georgia National
Guard Tuesday to hospitals
across the state.
Kemp announced that 105
members of the Guard with
medical training will head tO
10 hospitals.
“These guardsmen will as
sist our frontline health-care
workers as they provide quality
medical care during the current
increase in cases and hospital
izations,” the governor said.
“This Georgia National
Guard mission is in addition
to the 2,800 state-supported
Labor shortages
staff and 450 new beds brought
online I announced last week,
at a total state investment of
$625 million through Decem
ber of this year.”
The Guard personnel will
be assigned to the following
hospitals:
• Southeast Georgia Health
System in Brunswick
• Northeast Georgia Medical
Continued from front
Center in Gainesville
• Webstar Kennestone Hos
pital in Marietta
• Piedmont Henry Hospital
in Stockbridge
• Phoebe Putney Memorial
Hospital in Albany
• Memorial Health Universi
ty Medical Center in Savannah
• Navicent Health Hospital
in Macon
• Grady Memorial Hospital
in Atlanta
• Piedmont Fayette Hospital
in Fayetteville
• Houston Medical Center in
Warner Robins
The Georgia National Guard
is working with the Geor
gia Emergency Management
Agency and the state Depart
ment of Community Health to
carry out the mission.
The number of confirmed
cases of the vims in Georgia
passed 1 million last week
and stood at 1,036,304 as of
Monday afternoon, according
to the state Department of
Public Health. COVID-19 has
hospitalized 70,777 Georgians
and is responsible for 22,263
confirmed or probable deaths.
1 A IXJt I
1
r
2 ADULTS (1 WORKING)
r
7 ADULTS
(BOTH WORKING)
1
0 Children
1 Child
2 Children
3 Children
0 Children
1 Child
2 Children
3 Children
0 Children
1 Child
2 Children 3 Children
Living
Wage
$15.36
$29.63
$36.13
$45.92
$24.12
$28.58
$32.23
$35.54
$12.06
$16.22
$19.97
$23.05
Poverty
Wage
$6.13
$8.29
$10.44
$12.60
$8.29
$10.44
$12.60
$14.75
$4.14
$5.22
$6.30
$7.38
Minimum
Wage
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
$7.25
This chart demonstrates livable wage amounts in the State of Georgia according to the Depart
ment of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
mately three months. There
have been very few applicants,
according to Rowell. She con
tinues to repost the opening
about every three weeks for
the position that pays roughly
$10.50 per hour. Officiating
pays $18 to $25 per game.
Rowell faced the Board of
Commissioners during the
most recent budget workshop
asking for higher pay for man
agement positions currently at
pay grade 11. She asked that
the positions be moved up to
paygrade 15.
“Upon reviewing the su
pervisory positions through
out the county, I felt that the
pay grades for our managers
were significantly lower than
those within other county de
partments. Our managers all
have college degrees and/or
a significant number of years
of experience in their area,”
Rowell said in a statement
August 22. “In order to attract
and retain quality employees,
it is imperative that their sala
ries are comparable with their
education and experience and
also that their pay grades are
comparable with similar posi
tions throughout the county
government. In addition, our
staff does not work traditional
9-5 hours. We work nights
and weekends regularly and
sacrifice time with our families
in order to provide services
for the families in our com
munity.”
Rowell’s thoughts correlate
with what Marc Perrone said
in a July 29 Newsweek article.
Perrone is the President of the
United Food and Commercial
Workers International Union.
“The problem, he said, is the
gap between the compensation
employers are offering and
what workers are willing to
work for, an issue that has been
farther complicated by threats
posed by the coronavims,” ac
cording to Newsweek.
“While Perrone said unem
ployment benefit enhance
ments included in federal
stimulus packages ‘further
exacerbate the problem,’ he
doesn't agree with the argu
ment that the worker shortage
is attributable to Americans
choosing to live off their un
employment checks rather than
return to work.”
According to 2020-2021
Living Wage Calculator, cre
ated by Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), employ
ers in the state of Georgia, pay
ing less than $15 per hour are
not compensating their work
ers with a living wage. The
Department of Urban Studies
and Planning defines living
wage as an hourly rate that an
individual in a household must
earn to support themselves and
their family.
The Living Wage Calculator
“is a market-based approach
that draws upon geographically
specific expenditure data re
lated to a family’s likely mini
mum food, childcare, health
insurance, housing, transporta
tion and other necessities (e.g.,
clothing, personal care items,
etc.) costs. The living wage
draws on these cost elements
and the rough effects of income
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and payroll taxes to determine
the minimum employment
earnings necessary to meet a
family’s basic needs while also
maintaining self-sufficiency,”
according to its User’s Guide.
The Living Wage Calcula
tion for Georgia shows that a
single adult with no children
requires a minimum wage of
$15.36 per hour to sustain. A
household of two adults and
two children requires that both
adults must earn at least $ 19.97
per hour.
While some employers
blame the inability to find
help on a lack of motivation to
work, there is some speculation
that employers are creating the
dilemma for themselves.
"At this point in time, it's
also a workers' market. And
in some places, it may be that
you have to pay more wages in
order to attract workers,"said
press secretary Jen Psaki dur
ing a recent White House
briefing.
Jesse Burke asked the Burke
County BOC to consider pay
raises for five roads depart
ment employees during the
same budget work session that
Rowell attended.
“She came along when you
hired someone and you hired
them at low rates,” he said of
one employee who has been
with the department for 15
years. “She got hired at the
bare minimum and she has
been climbing as hard as she
can climb all these years, and
she can’t catch up.”
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