Economically ruinous scheme or social justice imperative? Well, tonight you’ll at least hear the latter argument over whether or not the District needs a living wage.

D.C. for Democracy is hosting a meeting tonight at which three speakers — MacKenzie Baris of D.C. Jobs With Justice, Ed Lazere of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, and several students from the Georgetown University Living Wage Campaign — will discuss legislation currently before the D.C. City Council mandating that public contractors pay their workers a minimum wage of $9.25 with health benefits $10.50 an hour without them. Council-member, mayoral candidate, and chairman of the Council’s Government Operations Committee Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5) has promised to hold hearings on the legislation this fall, with a full vote before the Council planned thereafter.

Living wages have long been promoted by social justice movements as the means to address growing levels of inequality throughout the United States, and have in recent years been adopted by towns and cities ranging from Lincoln, Nebraska to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Locally, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria mandate that living wages be paid, and earlier this year Georgetown University students, above, engaged in hunger strikes that forced the university’s administration to adopt a living wage for the school’s janitorial staff. Opponents to living wage proposals argue that they will dissuade businesses from moving into particular localities, increasing unemployment and further pushing low-wage workers into poverty.

The meeting will take place at Ben’s Chili Bowl, 1213 U Street, NW, from 7:00-8:30 p.m.