Raising America’s Minimum Wage Is ‘a Moral Issue’

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/07/14/raising-america%e2%80%99s-minimum-wage-is-%e2%80%98a-moral-issue%e2%80%99/

Legislation & Politics, In the States

Jul 14

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Raising America’s Minimum Wage Is ‘a Moral Issue’

Raising the minimum wage “is a moral issue and America’s workers are ready to speak out for change,” Wanda Mitchell-Smith, a Kentucky State AFL-CIO recording secretary, told more than 100 Louisville, Ky., union members, community and faith leaders at a special AFL-CIO America Needs a Raise forum today.

U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.), along with state lawmakers and representatives from the education and religious communities joined the discussion. They spoke about the need to raise the minimum wage and the repeated efforts by the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress to prevent low-wage workers from getting a pay raise.



he federal minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997 and every attempt to raise it has been blocked by the Republican-controlled Congress, which has found time to give itself eight raises with another due this January—a $35,000 a year pay raise since 1997. (Even Karl Rove and other Bush White House staffers are getting big pay raises. Click here to be outraged.)

Mitchell-Smith, who also is a member of AFSCME Council 62, said:

The minimum wage fight in Congress right now tells the real story about Republican values—they’ll give money hand over first to their corporate sponsors—but after nearly a decade they still won’t give America’s lowest-paid workers a raise.

[Deja Q]

1. I'd rather see America's cost of living go down.

Chinese workers get a pittance, yet the cost of equipment and services to many of them makes their economy a ream golden age right now.

Ditto for India.

That's where America needs to become competitive again: The cost of living.

The problem isn't the consumer.

[napi21]

2. I was listening to Bernie Sanders on Thom Hartmann the other day,

and he suggested that the mnimum wage increase be permanently linked to Congress raising it's own pay. Every time they raised their own, they'd have to raise min wage too! I thought that was a GREAT idea!