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Take Action to Raise the Minimum Wage |
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Take action today to help the nation’s lowest-paid workers get a raise.
Click here to become a citizen co-sponsor of new legislation that would raise the minimum wage, which has been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1997.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), whose efforts to raise the pay for the nation’s lowest-paid workers have been blocked by Senate Republican leaders, is rekindling the fight to pass S. 1062, the Fair Minimum Wage Act. It would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 in three steps over 26 months.
As Kennedy and worker advocates are canvassing the Senate for co-sponsors, the AFL-CIO and other progressive groups are mobilizing their troops to become “citizen co-sponsors” of the bill and sign a petition telling Congress it’s time to pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act.
Members of Congress are pocketing a $3,100 pay raise they gave themselves this year, while refusing to grant one to America’s minimum wage workers. The new pay raise for Congress means the salaries of senators and representatives have gone up by $31,600 since 1997, while minimum wage workers still earn only $10,700 a year.
At the current minimum wage level, a full-time, year-round minimum wage worker in 2006 will earn $5,378 less than the $16,090 needed to lift a family of three out of poverty. A family’s annual average health care premiums exceed annual pay at the minimum wage.
The Economic Policy Institute reports some 7.3 million workers who earn between $5.15 an hour and $7.25 an hour would have benefited directly from Kennedy’s proposed $7.25 an hour increase, and 8.2 million more workers who earn slightly more than $7.25 an hour also would benefit from the spillover effect of an increase.
Meanwhile in the House, Democrats are moving to force a vote on a similar bill (H.R. 2429) introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).
Rep. John Barrow (D–Ga.) says during the past several years, a number of moderate Republican House members have expressed support for raising the minimum wage, but haven’t acted. Barrow introduced what’s known as a discharge petition. If 218 members sign the petition, it would force a vote on the Miller bill.
Barrow says his move gives those lawmakers a “chance to put their money where their mouth is” by signing the discharge petition.
“For nearly 10 years,” says Miller, “Republican leadership has stood in the way of a raise for America’s lowest paid workers. This is a shame. It is an insult and it is a moral outrage.”
To bypass the decade of congressional inaction, working family activists have taken the fight for a higher minimum wage to the states. By the end of 2005, 15 states and the District of Columbia had set their minimum wage level higher than the federal wage.
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Take Action to Raise the Minimum Wage |
|
Take action today to help the nation’s lowest-paid workers get a raise.
Click here to become a citizen co-sponsor of new legislation that would raise the minimum wage, which has been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1997.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), whose efforts to raise the pay for the nation’s lowest-paid workers have been blocked by Senate Republican leaders, is rekindling the fight to pass S. 1062, the Fair Minimum Wage Act. It would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 in three steps over 26 months.
As Kennedy and worker advocates are canvassing the Senate for co-sponsors, the AFL-CIO and other progressive groups are mobilizing their troops to become “citizen co-sponsors” of the bill and sign a petition telling Congress it’s time to pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act.
Members of Congress are pocketing a $3,100 pay raise they gave themselves this year, while refusing to grant one to America’s minimum wage workers. The new pay raise for Congress means the salaries of senators and representatives have gone up by $31,600 since 1997, while minimum wage workers still earn only $10,700 a year.
At the current minimum wage level, a full-time, year-round minimum wage worker in 2006 will earn $5,378 less than the $16,090 needed to lift a family of three out of poverty. A family’s annual average health care premiums exceed annual pay at the minimum wage.
The Economic Policy Institute reports some 7.3 million workers who earn between $5.15 an hour and $7.25 an hour would have benefited directly from Kennedy’s proposed $7.25 an hour increase, and 8.2 million more workers who earn slightly more than $7.25 an hour also would benefit from the spillover effect of an increase.
Meanwhile in the House, Democrats are moving to force a vote on a similar bill (H.R. 2429) introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).
Rep. John Barrow (D–Ga.) says during the past several years, a number of moderate Republican House members have expressed support for raising the minimum wage, but haven’t acted. Barrow introduced what’s known as a discharge petition. If 218 members sign the petition, it would force a vote on the Miller bill.
Barrow says his move gives those lawmakers a “chance to put their money where their mouth is” by signing the discharge petition.
“For nearly 10 years,” says Miller, “Republican leadership has stood in the way of a raise for America’s lowest paid workers. This is a shame. It is an insult and it is a moral outrage.”
To bypass the decade of congressional inaction, working family activists have taken the fight for a higher minimum wage to the states. By the end of 2005, 15 states and the District of Columbia had set their minimum wage level higher than the federal wage.
No Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
