Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren Ask Obama To 'Fight For $15' With Executive Power

[Cheese Sandwich]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- The Fight for $15 labor movement has found some high-profile allies in the U.S. Senate, and now they're asking President Barack Obama to get onboard.

In a letter to the White House led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday, 18 senators, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), asked Obama to issue a "model employer" executive order, which would give contracting preference to firms that pay a living wage, offer health care and sick leave, and guarantee union rights for workers.

"Mr. President, the stroke of your pen can have transformative impact for millions of workers," the letter states. "As low-wage fast food, retail and federal contract workers continue to strike in growing numbers to 'Fight for $15 and a Union,' we urge you to harness the power of the presidency to help these workers achieve the American Dream."

The letter notes that the president has held up for-profit companies like Costco as high-road employers, so the federal government itself should "invest our taxpayer dollars to incentivize model employers that commit to creating good jobs and to rebuilding America's ailing middle class."
...

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/15/elizabeth-warren-fight-for-15_n_7292142.html

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Related: http://www.democraticunderground.com/12806599

[brooklynite]

1. Also signed by...

Blumenthal
Hirono
Wyden
Franken
Murphy
Durbin
Markey
Stabenow
Mickulski
Merkley
Baldwin
Reed
Cardin
Menendez
Whitehouse
Heinrich

[daleanime]

3. Ah, Jack Reed...

for a second I thought my representative, Tom (G)Reed, had been replaced with a body snatcher.



I wish.

[NYC_SKP]

5. But, significantly, led by Sanders....

led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday, 18 senators, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), asked Obama to issue a "model employer" executive order, which would give contracting preference to firms that pay a living wage, offer health care and sick leave, and guarantee union rights for workers.

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/modelemployerletter.pdf

[kenfrequed]

12. Yup

Pretty sad when they want to deny credit to a candidate that people are trying to convince us "doesn't stand a chance" anyhow.

[daleanime]

2. K&R.....

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Good on ya, Bernie & Liz.

But only 18 Democrats?

I'm sure all the other Democratic candidates will speak out for this too, even if they aren't in the Senate at the moment. Right?

And no doubt it was a simple oversight on Obama's part not to do anything about this already. After all, he has been very busy lately trying to bring enlightenment to wild-eyed opponents to the Toilet Paper Plot (or whatever it is that acronym stands for).

[Cheese Sandwich]

18. Toilet Paper Plot sounds about right...

[diabeticman]

6. AWESOME!!! Now let's see if the President is as eager to this as he fights for TPP and Fast Track.

[KG]

7. C'MON BERNIE! he just can't wave a magic wand, y'know!

[cstanleytech]

9. Oh he would need a magic wand for a federal minimum wage because lets face it

the Republicans like people living in poverty because people who live in poverty are easier to control or atleast they are until they get pissed off and then decide to give the politicians who screwed them over a very close shave.............at the neck.

[OKNancy]

8. I used to hire teenagers to help with dance classes

They were thrilled with $10.00 which was way over what anyone else would pay.
I don't know that I could have afforded $15.00 per hour.
I'm retired now, but if that was the minimum wage, I would probably just go ahead and hire adults and forget about hiring kids.

[kenfrequed]

11. Wow...

Just wow.

I mean, how many shades off of "minimum wage earners are mostly teenagers" is that anyhow?

Yeah, and I have paid the kid next door twenty dollars cash once or twice to shovel my walk but I would never recommend making federal wage policy based on what I pay someone to do that.

[cstanleytech]

14. Thing your forgetting though and that is the fact of inflation.

If the prices for the things like food and rent were the same as say 30 - 40 years ago then yes 15 an hour would be to high however 15 is about what where minimum wage should be not when adjusted for for the inflation.
And that does not take into account either that companies like Walmart schedule alot of their part timers for short shifts often especially during slow times of the year during which time some of them are lucky if they get two four hour shifts a week.

[OKNancy]

16. LOL - I didn't retire 30 years ago though

It was five years ago.

I owned a large ballet/dance school. Sometime I would have teens help out with the young kids classes. Things like take them to the bathroom, tie shoes, show a step if I was tired.
Believe me, they weren't $15.00 per hour. That's ridiculous.

[cstanleytech]

17. No, whats ridiculous is to have people who are willing to work being paid so little

that they dont know from one week to the next if they will have a roof over their heads or have to have their children go to bed hungry because they cannot afford to feed them because their employer is a cheap bastard, thats ridiculous

[BrotherIvan]

19. But please understand

With a rise in minimum wage, your earnings might have been higher as you could charge more for classes. Wages in general would increase as businesses sell more goods. A high minimum wage is one of the markers of a healthy economy because the money immediately flows through. So paying the helpers 15 an hour would feel about the same as 10. In 1956 you might have paid them $1 as that was minimum wage. But wages have not kept up with the time and the cost of living which needs to change.

[cstanleytech]

10. They need to push for a mechanism that has automatic cost of living increases for the wage because

it sucks that the american people are held hostage by the Republicans as they only care about the wealthy and they dont give a shit about the rest of us.

[kenfrequed]

13. Yes!

That would be a very workable minimum wage provision that would protect earning power from inflation and assure buying power for consumers. A good solution!

[Jefferson23]

15. I'm glad my Senator signed on as well. n/t

[libdem4life]

20. Not a Snowball's Chance in Hell. A living wage is too Progressive/Liberal.

[Big_Mike]

21. Basic decency says pay your employees a living wage

I absolutely abhor regulation by fiat. There is no place in our society for rule by dictat.

Yeah, it sounds nice for something we agree with. But what if some (R) president decrees that there will be NO minimum wage? Or what if they found some wiggle room that allowed them to mandate prayer in school?

Nope. Don't go there. Pass the law, and have the law stand up in court against nay sayers. That is how things are supposed to work.

[Cheese Sandwich]

22. This is just about the federal government preferring contractors who pay their workers well...

That's the issue in the article. The title isn't so great.

They aren't asking the president to dictate a wage for the whole country. You're right that would be unacceptable.

The title could have been more clear.