Obama Set To Sign Executive Order On Minimum Wage

[Cali_Democrat]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will sign an executive order on Wednesday setting a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour for workers under federal contracts, an administration official confirmed to The Huffington Post.

The signing will take place at the White House, where the president is expected to be flanked by low-wage workers who called on him to issue the order. Other details, including who exactly will be covered under the order's language, will be made public tomorrow, the official said.

By signing the executive order, the president will make good on a policy proposal he laid out during his State of the Union address earlier this month. Neither the House nor the Senate has passed a minimum wage bill since the president first proposed raising the pay last February, so the president said he would hike the wage-floor himself for workers under federal contracts.

"I’m eager to work with all of you," Obama told lawmakers during his address. "But America does not stand still -- and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/11/obama-minimum-wage_n_4769464.html

[proudretiredvet]

1. Good move.

It will not solve all the problems of the poor but it is a good first step.

[Oscarmonster13]

2. will it help?

wonder if the damn corporate bastards will start to cut more jobs saying it "costs too much" to keep employees at those wages >

[rhett o rick]

8. No they will just put a little more sawdust in their hamburger*.

I think the definition of hamburger for fast food purposes means it has to be "meat like" with no more that 10% rodent hair.

[SummerSnow]

3. let the GOP head explosions take place.......

[Cryptoad]

4. minimum wage is a band-aid.. ,,,,

welcomed but we need more.

We need government policy that will reward tax breaks to Companies that pay their their employees a Living Wage! ( punish those that don't)

[Populist_Prole]

5. Ha Ha!! Right wingers are going to spit blood over this

Aside from the "what else is new?" dynamic, and the obligatory corporate concubine dynamic, there's their phoney-assed hysteria over his use of executive orders, which when anybody other than a republican president uses them, is tantamount to tyranny.

[Cha]

6. Thanks Obama!

thanks Cali~

[rhett o rick]

7. The state of Washington is looking at going for $15 per hour and I think Calif is looking at $13 per

hour. Since this is an executive order, why not make it $12 per hour.

[Vattel]

10. Hmmm. Very good question?

[Vattel]

9. Excellent work Obama!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

11. The trouble is

when you start low, you stay low. So for a person making $8 an hour to get a 10% increase, they're up to a whopping $8.80 an hour. Anything "raise" amounting to less than $1.00 an hour is a horrific insult.

[rickyhall]

12. It's barely a start

Not many people under federal contracts, most of us will not be effected

If the president wants the Repugs to pass a universal minimum wage he should be AGAINST it because they oppose ANYTHING he wants.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. Call it "Manditory Trickle Down" since "Voluntary" didn't work.

[Cal Carpenter]

14. This will impact very few people

It's an insult to the working poor to act like this is a victory of any kind. Of the millions of people struggling with low-wage jobs, at best a couple hundred thousand will see a slight increase in wages, but still hardly enough to live off of.

No one will even say how many people will benefit from this, and current low-wage workers on federal contracts will only see these raises when their existing contracts are up which could take years in some cases.

This is a nominal change being touted. Given the state of income inequality it is barely a drop in the bucket.

The reason they aren't bragging about the vast numbers of people who will benefit from this is because there aren't very many.

[L0oniX]

15. Minimal action ...for new gov contract workers only. Yea woopee doo dah

[diabeticman]

16. wonder if this have an impact on my wife's pay. She is a home health aid and various companies

grants and so on pay her salary. one person that pays for the services she provides is the VA.

[Cha]

17. Kick!

[Z-RO]

18. Good.

[KamaAina]

19. Workers with disabilities will be included

the ones presently being paid less than minimum wage legally with what's known as a Section 14(c) certificate.

http://autisticadvocacy.org/2014/02/autistic-self-advocacy-network-applauds-president-obamas-inclusion-of-workers-with-disabilities-in-executive-order-raising-the-minimum-wage-for-federal-contractors/

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the premier national advocacy organization run by and for Autistic Americans, issued a statement today praising the Obama administration for including workers with disabilities in today’s executive order raising the minimum wage for employees of federal service and concession contractors to $10.10/hour. After initial statements from administration officials that disabled workers now being paid less than minimum wage under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act would not be included, the disability advocacy community spoke out clearly and unequivocally on the importance of including workers with disabilities in the executive order. After a two week advocacy campaign by dozens of disability rights groups, the executive order due to be signed today will include workers with disabilities now under Section 14(c).

“We applaud President Obama and Secretary Perez for demonstrating their commitment to equality and economic opportunity for workers with disabilities, and hope the administration will join us in fighting in Congress for the ultimate repeal of Section 14(c),” said ASAN President Ari Ne’eman. “This is a significant step forward for workers with disabilities.”

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, working jointly with the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination and a wide variety of cross-disability and labor organizations, called upon President Obama and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez last week to include workers with disabilities in the executive order in a joint letter and an active grassroots campaign which drew national support and attention. In response to remarks made by Secretary of Labor Tom Perez after the State of the Union stating that the White House lacked the authority absent congressional action to include workers with disabilities in the executive order, ASAN produced a legal memorandum analyzing and outlining the President and the Secretary of Labor’s authority to take such action.

Allison Wohl, Executive Director of the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination, expressed the enthusiasm of the collaboration for the final form of the executive order, saying “We are pleased that the president heard the concerns that our member organizations and allies voiced: that a provision from a law passed in 1938 is out of date and discriminatory and is in need of reform and that workers will disabilities deserve to be paid fair wages for fair labor.”

This is historic in that it marks that first time that a group led by Autistic people has had a significant effect on U.S. public policy. But I've met Ari, and I can pretty much guarantee you it won't be the last.