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Dear John,
Who could survive on $7.25 an hour? That’s still the federal minimum wage in the U.S.: the same as it was 15 years ago. That’s just after the election of Barack Obama. How many political lifetimes have we lived through since then, and yet there has been no increase in the minimum wage?
And there are some tipped workers still receiving the federal sub-minimum wage, a mind-boggling $2.13 an hour.
As the minimum wage falls further and further behind the actual cost of living, lower-income workers struggle to pay for basic necessities such as food, clothing, housing, and health care. The minimum wage is simply not a living wage.
All workers have a right to live with dignity and economic security. Let’s commit now to raising the minimum wage to $20 by 2030. If Congress won’t do it, let’s do it state by state to get the ball rolling.
Send a message to your state legislators to urge them to pass legislation raising the minimum wage to $20 by 2030, eliminating the sub-minimum wage, and tying future increases to the cost of living now.
We also must eliminate the sub-minimum wage, which keeps tipped workers in a subservient position, relying on their ability to bring out the “kindness of strangers” rather than counting on their work itself to pay the bills.
It’s especially important for the minimum wage to keep up with the cost of living. It should be tied to changes in the Consumer Price Index to account for the impact of inflation.
While CEOs and shareholders siphon off billions of profit from the top, workers at the bottom continue to struggle to meet even basic living expenses. They may be caught in an endless cycle of debt, borrowing more to pay off interest charges on old loans.
We must do all we can to stand up for fair wages and economic justice.
Send a message to your state legislators! Urge them to raise the minimum wage to $20, with future increases tied to the Consumer Price Index, and no sub-minimum wage.
Thank you for standing up for a living minimum wage for the working people of America.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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