7 Days @ Minimum Wage: American Dream a Nightmare for Low-Wage Workers

by James Parks, Oct 26, 2006

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The mantra we’re all taught is that if you work hard and follow the rules, you can succeed in America. But millions of hard-working people are breaking their backs on the job and are not making enough to take care of their families.

In the fourth installment of the video blog (vlog) ”7 Days at Minimum Wage,” Jessica, a single mother who makes “very, very close to the minimum wage,” can’t hold back the tears as she describes how hard it is to live on so little income: 

It’s very hard. I go to bed crying at night, and I wake up crying. I don’t tell them [her children] the reason why mommy is not eating tonight is because I’d rather for you to eat.

It’s a battle. You do everything you’re supposed to do. I’m here 30 minutes before work. I stay two to three hours after work. I would think they would pay me more.

I don’t want to work like that, but I have no choice.

The vlog, which is running at http://sevendaysatminimumwage.org/ from Oct. 23–30, is sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN. Hosted by comedienne Roseanne Barr, it  features interviews with seven workers describing life at or near the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, which has not been raised since 1997.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reports that 59 percent of the workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage are women. An estimated 14 percent of working women would benefit directly from an increase, and 1.4 million single parents with children under 18 would benefit as well.

This week, two top Democratic leaders, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said if Democrats gain control of Congress in the Nov. 7 election, an increase in the minimum wage would be one of the first orders of business in the new session. If the Democrats gain a majority, Kennedy would chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Pelosi would be speaker of the House.

Frustrated by the congressional refusal to acknowledge that $5.15 an hour is too little to live on, the AFL-CIO union movement has spearheaded the America Needs a Raise campaign to raise the minimum wage at the state and federal levels. The campaign has provided momentum to put the issue on the ballot Nov. 7 in six states—Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio.

EPI also reports that that if all these measures pass, more than 1.5 million workers would receive raises, with 652,000 children of these workers directly benefiting. It also would result in 70 percent of the U.S. workforce living in a state with a minimum wage higher than the federal level, counting the 22 states plus the District of Columbia already above the federal rate.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)