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Act now to urge your senators to support an increase in the federal
minimum wage. Insist that they approve a “clean” increase without
any politically motivated amendments such as tax breaks for the
wealthy.
In one of its first acts, the new House of Representatives
overwhelmingly voted to increase the federal minimum wage, which
would be the first hike in nearly 10 years. The action in the “first
100 hours” for the new Democratic majority was a victory for human
rights activists who advocated relentlessly for increases at both
the state and federal levels. Let’s keep the momentum going!
In November, voters sent a clear message to their elected officials
by approving ballot measures in six states to increase the minimum
wage. The battle now moves to the Senate, where there may be
attempts to amend the bill in a way that makes it unacceptable for
supporters of a minimum wage increase.
Take Action Now!
Send an immediate message to your senators.
Call the Capitol switchboard directly at
202-224-3121 where you can ask to be connected to your
representative's office. You
also may send a message by e-mail or fax through our
Legislative Action Center.
Message/Talking Points
Voters in the November 2006 election spelled out their priorities to
Congress and the White House. They want to see progressive policy
changes, including a long-overdue increase in the minimum wage.
The minimum wage bill must be approved on its merits, without any
tax-cutting amendments that will make it unacceptable.
Raising the minimum wage provides increased income to workers
earning the lowest legal income and helps them to sustain the basic
necessities of life.
Raising the federal minimum wage is the right thing to do
economically, as well as morally. Minimum wage jobs are local jobs.
They do not migrate to other regions as do those that compete in
national and international markets. Furthermore, minimum wage
workers will use any increase in earnings for purchases in the local
economy.
A total of 22 states now have minimum wage rates higher than the
federal level, and there have been none of the adverse effects that
critics had predicted.
The current federal minimum wage has not been raised by Congress
since September 1997. This means that inflation has further eroded
the wages of low-income workers.
Today, the federal minimum wage of $5.15 is at its lowest
inflation-adjusted value in over 50 years. A full time minimum wage
worker (40 hours a week) earns only $10,712 a year.
Background
A vote in the House on H.R. 2, a bill to raise the federal minimum
wage to $7.15 over two years, passed on Wednesday, January 10. A
vote on the Senate floor could happen in the following week.
The federal minimum wage currently stands at $5.15 and was enacted
in September 1997. In that same period of time Congress has voted
itself salary increases totaling $31,000 a year!
If the federal minimum wage is increased, approximately 760,000
single mothers and 1.8 million parents with children under 18 will
receive a small boost in their income. At least 80 percent of
minimum wage workers are adults over 20 years of age. A modest
increase in income for workers earning the minimum wage is just and
equitable.
Research on the effects of raising the minimum wage offers new
evidence that there have been no substantial job losses caused by
modest increases in the past 15 years. According to a statement
signed by over 650 economists, including five Nobel Prize winners in
economics and six past presidents of the American Economics
Association, modest increases in state and federal minimum wages can
“significantly improve the lives of low-income workers and their
families, without the adverse effects that critics have claimed.”
UUSC is a member of the
Let Justice Roll coalition which is working to change the
equation for working families.
For more insight and analysis on this issue, see “Why
Raise the Minimum Wage”?;“America’s
Workers Deserve a 'Clean' Minimum Wage Increase”;and “Do
the Math”.
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