Minimum Wage Hike First Step in Progressive Agenda

CWA members and hundreds of other union and commmunity activists joined with U.S. House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to celebrate the first raise in the minimum wage in more than 10 years – a victory that lawmakers and social justice leaders said wouldn't have been possible without labor's determination and hard work.

"For 10 years people working at some of the most difficult, dirtiest jobs in America were told 'You have to work for a poverty wage,'" Rep. George Miller (D-CA) said. 

The hourly minimum wage had been $5.15 an hour for a decade until going up by 70 cents, to $5.85 on July 24. Two more increases will bring it to $7.25 an hour by mid-2009. However, Miller said he and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) intend to introduce legislation to raise it higher, to $9.50 an hour.

Two minimum-wage workers were among the speakers, including 55-year-old Valerie Henry who talked about working three jobs to make ends meet. They include day work at Camden Yards in Baltimore, where she has to show up to find out if she will get any work each day. In spite of her situation, she spoke with pride of keeping the stadium tidy and the pleasure she gets when fans thank her for the clean bathrooms.

CWA President Larry Cohen said the minimum wage increase is a big victory but it and other single-issue legislation won't solve the ultimate problem for workers – having a voice on the job. That will take passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. "When we are able to organize and bargain collectively without employers' threats and intimidation and stalling tactics, we will be able to fight for ourselves for our wages and working conditions," he said.

About 40 members of the House and Senate marched into the rally together as activists cheered.

At Cohen's urging, the crowd greeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.) with chants of "best Speaker ever."  Pelosi said the raise is reason to celebrate, but that it's not enough. She pledged that she and other Democrats will continue to work on progressive agenda to make good jobs, higher education and health care a reality for all Americans.

"This is just the beginning," she said. "In the coming months, we will expand cost-effective health coverage for millions of uninsured children, lower energy costs for all Americans and create the next generation of good-paying American jobs by growing our renewable energy and technology sectors."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) invoked the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt.  "Seventy years after President Roosevelt made a commitment to our parents and grandparents through the New Deal, too many Americans are now getting a raw deal," Reid said. "Hourly wages and household incomes are down while the number of uninsured Americans and executive salaries are up.  But today, hundreds of thousands of Americans will have a little more in their next paychecks to help them better afford basic necessities like food, clothing, day care, health care, education and retirement."