by Mike Hall, Jul 24, 2006

Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) who has voted against raising the minimum wage—while voting to raise his own congressional pay—probably thought he was in for a little old-fashioned, glad-handing at the Stillwater, Minn., Lumberjack Days parade Sunday.

But, according to reports, Kennedy was not too glad when union members and Working America activists began handing out leaflets detailing Kennedy’s votes and waving America Needs a Raise signs as they marched alongside his parade pick-up truck.

Minnesota AFL-CIO Communications Director Diane O’Brien says Kennedy tried to shake off the group by getting out of his truck and walking the route. But union members stayed “right with him.” And the crowd supported the union members.

The parade action was one of the more than 20 AFL-CIO America Needs a Raise rallies set to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the last time Congress voted to raise the minimum wage. Last week, Working America activists rallied in Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburgh to make voters aware their representatives oppose raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour for the nation’s lowest-paid workers.

In the 10 years since the minimum wage was passed, members of Congress have voted nine times to raise their pay, the ninth pay hike is set to fatten their wallets to $165,200 a year, starting Jan. 1.

House Republican leaders are refusing to hold a straight up or down vote on a bill by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. Democrats are fighting to force a vote on the minimum wage bill without any crippling amendments.

In the Senate, Republican leaders recently led the fight to defeat a similar bill from Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Calif.) by using parliamentary rules that required 60 votes to win. The bill won a majority, 52-46, but fell short of the 60-vote threshold.

This week, America Needs a Raise activists and Working America members will rally outside their representatives’ district offices in Tampa and West Palm Beach, Fla.; St. Louis; and Albuquerque, N.M. Working America is the AFL-CIO community affiliate for workers who do not have unions.

Congressional inaction has forced the minimum wage battle to the states where union members are chalking up legislative victories to raise the minimum wage. Although Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) just blocked a bill that would have increased the minimum wage in that state for the first time in seven years, union activists are chalking up victories in state houses across the nation, including:

• North Carolina, where Gov. Mike Easley (D) last week signed a bill to boost the Tar Heel State’s minimum wage $1 above the federal level to $6.15 an hour.
• Pennsylvania, where Gov. Edward Rendell (D) signed legislation July 9 to increase the state’s minimum wage by $2 an hour to $7.15 an hour, in two steps.

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