by Mike Hall, Jul 20, 2006

Yesterday, 30 union and Working America members marched to the district office of Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pa.) in suburban Pittsburgh to tell her it was time to stop playing games and raise the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage.

The rally was the first of several this month in which workers are marking the 10th anniversary of the last federal minimum wage increase. The AFL-CIO America Needs a Raise Campaign is pushing Congress to boost the wage, but Republican leaders continue to block action on House and Senate bills to raise the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.

Jenn Jannon, Working America’s Pennsylvania canvass director, says the group was “almost immediately” chased out of the shopping plaza in Allison Park, Pa., where Hart’s office is located but regrouped on the grassy area between the road and the shopping plaza. In an e-mail, Jannon writes:

Thinking we might get kicked out of the plaza and end up by the road, we had prepared “Honk if you need a raise” signs, so there was A LOT of noise from cars on top of the heck (hell) we were raising!

We had a bullhorn, whistles, lots of chanting, flag and banner, and signs. We had a GREAT time, and I think everyone was really excited and pleased to do this!!!! People were pulling into the plaza in their cars or walking over from other plazas and shops and asking us what we were doing.

Since the last time Congress voted to raise the minimum wage, members have given themselves eight pay raises, and unless the Senate blocks it, a ninth approved by the House will go into effect this January.

During the same time, the federal minimum wage has been frozen at $5.15 an hour, about the cost of a gallon and a half of gasoline at today’s prices. When Congress passed the minimum wage legislation in the summer of 1996, the price of gas was about $1.50 a gallon. Today, it’s more than double that. (Click here to read how far behind minimum-wage workers have fallen in the past 10 years.)

But for a moment, at least in the Pittsburgh area, a honkin’ good time was had by all.

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