The Fight for $15 is sweeping the nation. Thousands of workers, notably in the fast food sector, have staged coordinated strikes. California recently passed legislation guaranteeing a minimum wage of $15/hour for all workers to be phased in over the next several years. New York followed close behind with legislation that will guarantee workers in the metropolitan area an eventual $15/hour raise and workers upstate at least $12.50 with a goal of $15.
Several states and cities are considering minimum wage increases this year. Some, notably Washington D.C. may go as high as $15.00/hour.
Millions of low-wage working families will benefit from local, sector, and corporate victories and this movement is inspiring to the broader just economy movement.
Yet these successes stand in stark contrast to the silence of the federal government. Despite wide-spread support for raising the minimum wage, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25/hour since 2009. The last federal proposal to raise the wage (to only $10.10 an hour) never made it to a vote. Now two proposals to raise the minimum wage (one to $12.50/hour and the other to $15/hour) have been introduced, but Congress is making no progress bringing both of these forward either.
This is unacceptable. A full 21 states, where millions of low-wage workers live, match the federal minimum wage. (Five states have no minimum wage law and match it by default). As other states move quickly to raise the minimum wage, workers in these states are stuck with poverty wages.
It is especially egregious because in many of these states, workers have no option to increase the minimum wage at the local level. In early 2016, the city of Birmingham, Alabama announced an increase in the city’s minimum wage. State legislatures quickly worked to strike this increase down, through pre-emption, a tool by which states can invalidate local law and enforce statewide conformity. Alabama is not the only state to prevent its cities and towns from raising wages above the state minimum. Nearly 20 states have similar laws.
We need to raise the federal minimum wage to ensure that all workers are paid a fair wage. Leaders in states like California and cities like Seattle have proven it is possible to raise the minimum wage. Support has been strong enough to pass legislation with no negative impacts from early stages of implementation. Now is the time to raise wages for everyone.
Tell Congress you support raising the federal minimum wage for all workers, in all states, including wages for workers like farmworkers and tipped workers who are sometimes left out of minimum wage laws.
Posted on April 20th 2016
EVERYONE NEEDS A LIVING WAGE!
Stop allowing corporations to pass the cost of paying their workers along to the taxpayers by raising the minimum wage to a living wage.
Too many jobs (esp. Walmart) have wages that leave workers at the Poverty level or below, and their benefits are close to nil.
Grow the economy, give Higher wages !
Workers won’t be fully protected until the federal minimum wage is raised.
Increasing the minimum wage is not enough. Taxes will eat into the increase. Health insurance will also increase. There needs to be a balance. Fix the system. Here in San Diego County, the cost of living is a 3 to 4 times the wage. Raising the wage will barely fix the problem. Yes, it sounds good, but is it really?
A minimum wage, $15, in some places would be a poverty wage given the local cost of living. Tax rates must be changed so a low wage earner, even @ $15/hr., would not have taxes taken out because every penny is needed to live on, to survive.
Every move to raise the minimum wage is valid. Our most effective organizing is done at the local level and every victory adds toward a global goal of every worker paid at the equivalent of US$15/hr in 2016 dollars with an automatic COLA.
Everyone must have a living wage!!!
What all you fools who support this aren’t considering is, WHERE will the money come from to make a higher minimum wage a reality? It will NOT be “good for the economy” or good any other way. The fact is, if an employer is forced to pay higher wages (due to a Federal mandate), they will make up for that by RAISING PRICES on their products & services. Gotta have the money to pay the wages, right? Guess what happens then? People won’t be able to afford the higher costs of consumer goods & services; which will affect SALES, which translates into LESS HOURS for workers (reduced from full time to part time), as well as LAY OFFS; and finally, businesses, especially smaller ones (which comprise the overwhelming majority of American companies) closing their doors, forced OUT OF BUSINESS due to a Federally mandated minimum wage! See what I mean? You people who are so zealously supportive of ANY thing that is government mandated and enforced when it comes to what is supposed to be PRIVATE enterprise are showing how indoctrinated and brainwashed you are by the globalists and their New World Order agenda, which is the destruction of our economy and our nation in favour of world government! Contrary to what you believe, government doesn’t “protect” any thing, nor do they provide any thing, especially safety and security! The only thing government has to give is what they TAKE. And they either do so forceably, as has been the case with Socialism and Communism; or by stealth, which is the case with Fascism, also known as Corporatism! In America’s case, we now have BOTH forces at work, and you can see what the effect of that is. Our manufacturing base is being destroyed via “treatees” like GATT, NAFTA, & TPP, which is why so much of our products come primarily from China (the worst Communist slave state & violator of human rights!) Meanwhile, Americans are being taxed to death, both in business and privately; and every aspect of our lives are being regulated & tracked BY GOVERNMENT to where we basically have no FREEDOM (liberty!). And you want further government intervention into the private sector? You are insane, only inviting trouble, and signing your own death warrant! America was made great by two things: FAITH IN GOD (THE GOD OF THE HOLY BIBLE, JESUS CHRIST) AND HARD WORK! Government doesn’t solve problems. Government IS the problem!
Stop trying to raise the minimum wage. Those are starter jobs! If you want to make more money, educate yourself and get a better job!!