Calling it wrong for government to subsidize "slave labor," Pittsburgh City Councilman Ricky Burgess said he'll introduce legislation today to set 150 percent of the minimum wage as the lowest rate that the city, city-related authorities and contractors can pay their workers.

The federal and state minimum wage now is $7.25 per hour.

Under Mr. Burgess' proposal, as long as the minimum wage remains at that amount, no city or authority employee could be paid less than $10.87 per hour in future contracts. The same would apply to employees performing city-related work for a private employer.

Mr. Burgess said he's introducing the bill because families can't get by on the minimum wage. He's calling his proposal a "living wage," a term also adopted by other municipalities that have established local pay minimums.

When the minimum wage goes up, the living wage in Pittsburgh would, too.

"It's the right thing to do," said Mr. Burgess, who also wants to extend the living wage to at least some companies and groups that receive loans, grants or other assistance from the city.

In the past, the city Law Department expressed concern that a local minimum wage would violate state law. Mr. Burgess on Monday said he doesn't believe that's the case and noted that Philadelphia has implemented one without a legal challenge.

Mr. Burgess already introduced a bill this year to strike down an amendment to the city's current living wage ordinance. He said that ordinance, passed in 2001, was never implemented because an amendment passed the next year required the city to wait until Allegheny County officials implemented a living wage policy of their own.

The councilman's bill to strike down the amendment remains in committee. He said the bill he'll introduce Tuesday would repeal the current living wage policy, which ties the living wage to inflation, in its entirety.

Tying the living wage to the minimum wage is a more streamlined approach, he said.

A 2004 report by Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts counted about 100 living wage ordinances nationwide.

A minority of living wage ordinances affect all workers in a locale, regardless of whether they're doing government work, so Mr. Burgess' proposal is narrower than it could be, Mark Price, a labor economist with Keystone Research Group in Harrisburg, said.

Because living-wage pay hikes are modest, they generally don't have dramatic effects on the cost of government contracts, Dr. Price said. The effect on employers varies, he said, and some may find that they "can't make a go of it" with higher wages.

"Some firms make up for a lack of efficiency by having really low wages," he said. "This takes away that path."

Mr. Burgess said he hasn't discussed his proposal with colleagues but said the change would help residents of the city's most troubled neighborhoods, some of which he represents.

Jack Shea, president of Allegheny County Labor Council, said he would reserve comment on Mr. Burgess' proposal until he had an opportunity to familiarize himself with the details.

But he noted, "Certainly, we want people to make a living wage, to say the least."

It wasn't immediately clear whether the city has any employees who make less now than they would under Mr. Burgess' living wage bill. Mr. Burgess has said that snack-bar workers and security guards in the City-County Building -- both groups work for contractors -- would make more under his proposal.

In February, the city's related "prevailing wage" ordinance took effect without Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's signature. That ordinance requires that certain workers -- including hotel, grocery, janitorial and cafeteria workers at city-backed developments -- receive wages comparable to those of counterparts citywide.

Mr. Burgess said the living wage bill potentially affects a larger group of workers, though he could not immediately provide an estimate.

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