Search Results for 'Roseanne Barr'
Legislation & Politics |
Nov 8 |
Voters in Six States Approve Minimum Wage Increase
The pressure is on the next Congress to finally raise the minimum wage after voters yesterday overwhelmingly approved raising the minimum wage in all six states where it was on the ballot.
Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio approved measures that raise state minimum wage levels by $1 to $1.70 an hour. Add to that the pledge by House Democrats that if they won control of the lower chamber, they would make raising the federal minimum wage—which has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for a decade—a priority and the momentum is building strongly for an increase.
Legislation & Politics |
Nov 6 |
Even Business Leaders Support a Minimum Wage Boost
Now even business owners will admit what the Republican majority in Congress won’t: Raising the minimum wage is good for business.
In a statement released Nov. 3, business owners, executives and venture capitalists around the nation—including the states where minimum wage is on the ballot Nov. 7—call for raising the wage floor above the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour to pay workers fairly, boost business and strengthen the economy.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 29 |
7 Days @ Minimum Wage: 15 Million Workers Trapped at or Near Minimum Wage
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If Mallory McCarty wins a pay raise from her current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour to the $6.85 an hour as called for in a Nov. 7 Ohio ballot initiative, she says she’d finally have some extra money to set aside to learn new skills:
I either hang clothes, cashier, put clothes up or I am a sorter….You stand all day and I get a 45-minute break.
But all that hard work barely covers McCarty’s basic living costs:
I pay $200 every two weeks for rent and food, gas, lights and I have a phone bill…and I have to buy two bus passes to get to work….I have to watch what I spend every check. I’m living pay by pay.
Cleveland resident McCarty, who is the final feature on the video blog (vlog) “7 Days @ Minimum Wage,” sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN, is among millions of workers looking to this fall’s election with anticipation as voters in Ohio and five other states vote on ballot initiatives to raise their states’ minimum wage. They also will have the opportunity to send people to Congress who will raise the federal minimum wage.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 28 |
7 Days @ Minimum Wage: ‘On the Borderline of Homelessness’
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In Cleveland, Amanda struggles to take care of her basic, everyday needs on the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage she earns. But she says that she dreams one day she’ll be able to “live a regular life”—if the minimum wage is finally raised for the first time in a decade.
Amanda, who is featured in the sixth installment of the video blog (vlog) “7 Days @ Minimum Wage,” says earning minimum wage means:
You’re barely, barely making it. You’re on the borderline of homelessness or not having enough food.…It’s hard, it’s real, real hard, by the time I get the stuff I need and have to have—like get my clothes washed and groceries, my bus passes to get back and forth to work, I don’t have enough to do stuff to my house…lot of repairs need to be done to my house. I don’t enough money to do it.
Sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN, the vlog will run through Election Day at http://sevendaysatminimumwage.org/. The 7 Days vlog event was scheduled to end Oct. 30, but we’re extending it after getting an overwhelming response. The stories have received more than 10,000 video views, won daily honors on YouTube and have been picked up by the mainstream media and the blogosphere alike.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 27 |
7 Days @ Minimum Wage: ‘I’m Just Working to Survive’
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For some people, life on the minimum wage is a constant struggle to keep from having to sleep on the streets. Meet Chris Peters, who goes out every morning at 3:30 or 4 to try and find a day job that will pay him enough to eat and pay for the $35-a-night hotel room he lives in.
Peters tells his story in the fifth installment of the video blog (vlog) “7 Days @ Minimum Wage.” He says he spends most of the day at temp agencies that specialize in hard labor waiting to get a job. On the vlog, he relates what happened on one job:
Last night I worked for a Starbucks truck unloading milk and pastries for nine hours and I brought home $39. My hotel room costs $35 a night. Usually when I go to work, I hope I can get eight hours. Basically, I’m just working to survive, mostly just to have someplace to sleep so I ain’t gotta be on the streets.
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.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 26 |
7 Days @ Minimum Wage: American Dream a Nightmare for Low-Wage Workers
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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 @ 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.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 25 |
7 Days @ Minimum Wage: 70 Percent Making Minimum Wage Are Adults with Families
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Throughout the week, millions of Americans are hearing, seeing and getting a sense of what it’s like to try and live at or near the minimum wage at the video blog (vlog): “7 Days @ Minimum Wage.”
The Oct. 23–30 event, sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN, features interviews with seven workers describing life at or near the federal minimum wage, which has not been raised from $5.15 an hour since 1997.
The vlog’s host, comedienne Roseanne Barr, introduces this installment with a very telling statistic, saying raising the minimum wage is:
not about teenagers working for pocket change at a hamburger joint because 70 percent of people working at minimum wage are adults with family responsibilities.
Today, in the third installment, Jeffrey Edwards, who makes just above the minimum wage, $6 an hour, tells what it’s like to try and support a family working at a job that pays so little.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 24 |
Kennedy, Pelosi Promise Quick Action on Minimum Wage if Democrats Win Congress
Two top congressional Democrats promised that if their party gains control of Congress in the Nov. 7 elections, there would be a vote to raise the minimum wage within 24 hours after the opening gavel of the new Congress.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who would chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee if Democrats are in the majority next year, said during a telephone press briefing yesterday:
Let’s get a Democratic Senate, and I’ll do my damnedest to get this increased minimum wage out in 24 hours.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who would become house speaker if the Democrats gain the majority Nov. 7, also has said a minimum wage hike would be on the House floor within 24 hours after the new Congress convenes in January.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 24 |
7 Days @ Minimum Wage: ‘I Look at My Paycheck and I Want to Cry’
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Erin would like to go to college and she’d like to move out of her parent’s house, but because she makes just a little more than minimum wage, she’s trapped in a dead-end job with no immediate hope of getting out.
Erin tells her story on the second installment of the video blog (vlog) “7 Days @ Minimum Wage” (clip at left):
You have to work a lot of hours to make a decent amount of money. I work so hard every day.
I don’t know how people who have families and work these jobs support their families. I don’t know what I would do if I had a family. I guess we’d have to live with my parents.
“7 Days @ Minimum Wage,” sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN, is taking place Oct. 23–30 at http://sevendaysatminimumwage.org/ and at YouTube.com. It features interviews with seven workers describing life at or near the federal minimum wage, which has not been raised from $5.15 an hour since 1997.
Legislation & Politics |
Oct 24 |
Getting Out the Vote: Spotlight on Arizona
Union members in Arizona are among activists in six states where initiatives to raise the state minimum wage are on the ballot. In Arizona, voters will decide whether to raise the minimum wage to $6.75 an hour, while voters in Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio also have similar proposals. With Congress refusing since 1996 to raise the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage, voters are ready to make the change themselves.
