Minimum Wage

Peter Namtvedt

Peter Namtvedt — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:15:09 -0700

Federal Minimum Wage Lags States

Armand Biroonak — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:01:32 -0700

After the federal minimum wage increases to $6.55, it will remain below the minimum rate in 23 states and the District of Columbia. And even when it reaches $7.25 in 2009 the federal wage will still be below the minimum rate in at least 11 states and the District of Columbia.

Minimum Wage Not Adjusted for Inflation

Armand Biroonak — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:56:31 -0700

If the minimum wage had been linked to the inflation rate in 1968, it would be over $8.60 today. If had been indexed to inflation in 1978, it would be nearly $8.00 today.

New Minimum Wage Still Falls Short

Armand Biroonak — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:49:44 -0700

The new minimum wage of $6.55 an hour still leaves millions of hard-working Americans in poverty.

A worker who is employed full-time at the new minimum wage still earns only about $13,600 per year—$4,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of three and $7,600 below poverty for a family of four.

Minimum Wage

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:21:00 -0700

An open letter to Robert Borosage

Dennis Baer — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:33:31 -0700

Hello Mr. Borosage

I once got to speak to you on the phone briefly about 2 years ago. As just a regular citizen I liked that I could speak to someone as you who leads Campaign for America's Future. As a person with a disability I cannot easily go to a conference such as yours.

When I spoke to you 2 years ago the war in Iraq continued, the So called Prescription drug benefit that would not help the middle class of which I appear a member, began and others who need HR 676 did not have it and still don't have single payer universal health care, and millions of adult people earned a measly $5.15 an hour.

I told you that we need to take the political fight to some prominent Republican party contibutors in the form of a telephone campaign pressuring their CEOs to get an end to the war and also to get us the progressive legislation we need in America or we will refuse to buy their products.

I sincerely believe that we need to do this in 2008 more than ever. Why? Because the Senate has blocked an end to the war. Noone has introduced legislation to increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour. Noone has introduced much less passed a repeal of the ineffective Medicare Part D and placed the prescription drug benefit in Part B where it should have gone and not associated a monthly premium and yearly deductibe and a means test and a coverage gap with such benefit that covers 80 percent of any medication. Noone has gotten HR 676 passed.

The Republican party has insulated itself from the public but companies like General Electric, Rite Aid Pharmacies, and Wendy's Restaurants, which each of these 3 have given money to the Republican party and their candidates for years and profit on the war, the broken health care system and a minimum wage that leaves a lot of people with poor buying power in a $10 an hour Bu$h economy. These companies do not appear insulated from the public and can capitulate to an organized telephone campaign from angry but peaceful indignant progressives, demanding the progressive action and legislation or these companies lose a lot of money.

2 years later since I have called you, I hope as a private citizen, you will put out the word that we need to take the political fight to companies like the above mentioned. People like me and people less fortunate than myself cannot wait and hope that we will elect a Democratic President and also get a Democratic majority in the Senate with Democrats having 60 votes. Look at who former Democrat Joe Lieberman will support this year. John McCain. Of course we should push for a Democratic President and a filibuster proof Democratic congress but if we don't then we sit in a similar position that we had 2 years ago and today.

2 years later since I spoke to you on the phone, we still have similar conditions in America with respect to the war, broken health care and the minimum wage.

We need a 21st century version of the peaceful Gandhi revolution

Gandhi helped throw the British out of power in India by having the Indian people boycott British goods.

Nelson Mandela helped bring down the National Party of South Africa by having the world boycott South African goods.

We need to bring down the Republican party in America by having the progressive citizens boycott those goods that contributors to the Republican party sell. No CEO wants 30 to 50 percent of his customer base to disappear.

Go to http://liberal2.democratz.org and you can find out how to bring down the Republican party.

Thank you very much.

Dennis Baer

dennis.baer@verizon.net

Have you had enough of petitions, rallies, and protests that have not worked to end the war or pass progressive legislation? The Republican party and their conservative members appears insulated from the public and unresponsive to the public. However their contributors do not appear insulated from the public and can collapse under pressure to a withering telephone campaign threatening mass boycotts of their products until they get their friends at the GOP to do what we want.

Would you consider joining these telephone campaigns and spreading the word? I have created these campaigns to peacefully take back America. After you have made these phone calls please send me email to info@democratz.org with the subject CALLED.

I plan to bring this message to as many Democratic Clubs around the United States of America as I can.

Thank you.

http://www.democratz.org

Get as many people to make these phone calls.

Call Republican contributor and war contractor General Electric Corporation at 800 386 1215 or 203 373 2211 and tell the person who answers, that you want the GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to get Bush to end the war in Iraq and then Bush resign with Cheney and until that happens you will not buy any GE products and that you will tell your friends about this. Then call a local appliance store that sells GE appliances and tell the person you will not buy any GE products from their store until they can convince the GE CEO to convince George W Bush to end the war and then resign with Cheney.

Call Republican contributor Rite Aid Pharmacies at 800 325 3737 and tell the person that you want the Rite Aid CEO to get the congress and the President to enact HR 676 single payer universal health care and repeal Medicare Part D and place the drug benefit in Medicare Part B covering 80% of the cost of drugs with no extra premiums, no extra deductibles, no means tests, no coverage gaps, and remove the means test for Medicare Part B and until that happens, you won't buy ANYTHING from Rite Aid.

Call Republican contributor Wendy's restaurants at 614 764 3553 and tell the person in that you want their CEO to get the congress and the President to enact a $10/HR MIN. WAGE into law and until this happens you will not go to a Wendy's Restaurant.

Call your local Exxon/Mobil gas station and tell the manager that you will not get your car repaired there, nor will you buy gasoline there until their parent company sets their price so that they can sell you gasoline for $1.75 a gallon. Then only do business with other gas stations. We will no longer stand for $3 a gallon gasoline.

Kentucky Residents:

Call General Electric Appliances Corporation in Louisville at 502 452 4311 and other appliance stores that sell GE products and demand that they get Senator Mitch McConnell to get an end to the Iraq war and for Bush and Cheney to resign and until that happens you will not buy any GE refrigerators, stoves, televisions, dishwashers, ovens, lightbulbs, etc. Get as many Kentucky residents to make these phone calls.

After you make these calls you can also call Mitch McConnell's office and tell his office that you have called GE in Lousiville and won't buy their products until Mitch McConnell gets an end to the war and gets Bush and Cheney to resign.

General Electric Appliances
9500 Williamsburg Office Plaza
Louisville, KY 40222
USA

tel: 800 626 2000
tel: 502 452 4311
502 452 4313

U.S. Poverty Data Raise New Questions About Cost of War

Anita Chariw2 — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:53:48 -0700

Still Waiting For A Raise

Bill Scher — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:59:00 -0700

Raj Nayak is Counsel with the Economic Justice Project of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. The Brennan Center advised in drafting voter ballot initiatives in 2004 and 2006 that raised the minimum wage and tipped worker minimum wage in seven states.

Last month, many of our nation's low-wage workers got their first raise in a decade as the federal minimum wage inched up to $5.85 an hour. But millions more who are paid in part with tips—low-wage workers like waiters and waitresses, car wash attendants, and delivery workers—are still waiting. For them the minimum wage has been frozen at a meager $2.13 an hour for 16 years. And the restaurant industry—which fights to block pay increases for tipped workers—has lobbied hard to keep it that way. It's time for Congress to stand up to this special interest and give the nearly three million Americans who work for tips a long overdue raise.

In the past, tipped workers weren't always excluded from minimum wage hikes. For decades, employers were required to pay them a base wage of at least half the federal minimum wage. This guaranteed a stable income that was automatically adjusted as the minimum wage went up. And it reflected changes in the cost of living and recognized that tips are notoriously unpredictable and can vary substantially depending on work schedules, seasons, and broader economic trends.

But in 1996, when President Bill Clinton shamed House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Congress into raising the minimum wage, Republican lawmakers sided with restaurant industry lobbyists and excluded tipped workers by permanently freezing their minimum wage at $2.13. This resulted in a tipped-worker minimum wage that is worth less and less every year, forcing them to rely almost entirely on tips to make ends meet. Ultimately, it's meant lower and less certain pay for millions of Americans.

Restaurant industry lobbyists defend their position by focusing on waiters and waitresses at high-end restaurants who earn a lot of money in tips. But such workers are the exception, not the rule. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average waiter or waitress in the U.S. makes just over $17,000 per year including tips—hardly enough to support a family, as many of these women and men struggle to do. And other tipped workers—like car wash attendants and delivery workers—make even less.

As Congress has refused to address this serious problem, thirty-one states ranging from Arkansas to Ohio to North Dakota have stepped in to establish minimum wages above $2.13 an hour for people who work for tips. In fact, seven states require that tipped workers be paid the full minimum wage, recognizing that they are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of gas, rent and milk. None of these states have found that it hurts business to ask employers to pay tipped workers a fair wage. According to the National Restaurant Association, three of the states with higher minimum wages for tipped employees—Nevada, Arizona, and Florida—are projected to see the fastest growth in restaurant jobs and/or sales over the next 10 years.

Congress should follow the states' lead and restore the tipped-worker minimum wage to its historic level of at least 50 percent of the federal minimum wage, or $3.63 in 2009. This would give full-time workers an extra $3,120 a year—which would make a real difference in the lives of millions of working Americans.

As a nation, we pride ourselves that people who work hard and play by the rules should earn enough to support themselves and their families. Our shocking $2.13 wage is an affront to this deeply held value and is hurting working families. It's time for Congress to stand up to the restaurant industry and fix this unfair vestige of the Gingrich era.

FedEx Contractors Sue For Benefits, Pensions

Terrance Heath — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:06:00 -0700

628,000 Americans Receive Pay Raise Today

Toby Chaudhuri — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON – More than 628,000 of the lowest paid hard-working Americans will be the first of 12.5 million workers to receive a pay raise this week due to the first increase in the federal minimum wage in nearly a decade, according to an analysis by the Campaign for America’s Future. When fully phased in, this increase will mean a pay hike for nearly one in every 10 workers, according to an analysis of the Current Population Survey by the Economic Policy Institute.

The federal minimum wage, which had been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1997 and had lost 20 percent of its value, will rise to $5.85 an hour on Tuesday. Minimum wage workers will get an additional 70-cent pay increase each summer for the next 2 years, ending in 2009 at $7.25 an hour.

"This is but a first step," said Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage, noting that Americans spent more than they earned last year for the first time since the Great Depression.

"American families are struggling to make ends meet. Health and education costs are exploding, and people are working longer hours just to keep their heads above water," said Borosage. "We need an economy that rewards work. Raising the minimum wage is an important first step to insuring that workers get a fair share of the profits and productivity that they help to generate."

# # #

Twenty states have a minimum wage at $5.15 that will increase to $5.85 today due to the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade. The remaining 30 states have minimum wages above $5.85 and therefore will not be affected by the first of the three increases in the minimum wage scheduled over the next 2 years.

State	Pre- July 24 Minimum Wage	Post July 24 Minimum Wage	Workers Affected by the $5.85 Increase	Total number of workers that will be affected when the minimum wage increase is fully implemented in 2009 at $7.25
United States	$5.15	$5.85	628,000	12,454,000
Alabama	$5.15	$5.85	43,000	350,000
Georgia	$5.15	$5.85	55,000	526,000
Idaho	$5.15	$5.85	13,000	106,000
Indiana	$5.15	$5.85	34,000	354,000
Kansas	$5.15	$5.85	23,000	240,000
Louisiana	$5.15	$5.85	33,000	366,000
Mississippi	$5.15	$5.85	19,000	202,000
Nebraska	$5.15	$5.85	15,000	136,000
New Hampshire	$5.15	$5.85	8,000	19,000
North Dakota	$5.15	$5.85	6,000	48,000
New Mexico	$5.15	$5.85	16,000	*
Oklahoma	$5.15	$5.85	30,000	245,000
South Dakota	$5.15	$5.85	6,000	65,000
South Carolina	$5.15	$5.85	33,000	325,000
Tennessee	$5.15	$5.85	49,000	350,000
Texas	$5.15	$5.85	173,000	1,771,000
Vermont	$5.15	$5.85	3,000	*
West Virginia	$5.15	$5.85	14,000	133,000
Virginia	$5.15	$5.85	51,000	449,000
Wyoming	$5.15	$5.85	4,000	39,000

* Insufficient data to make estimate