ACORN members celebrate minimum wage increaseMembers in 20 states hold rallies as federal wage risesOn Tuesday, July 24, ACORN members across the country will celebrate the advent of the long-overdue increase in the federal minimum wage with rallies and press conferences in 20 states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and California.
ACORN President Maude Hurd will address the Americans for Change Rally in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Congressman George Miller and Sen. Edward Kennedy.
In May, Congress passed the country's first wage increase in 10 years with President Bush signing the bill 60 days ago, to raise the federal-mandated hourly pay from $5.15 to $7.25 in three stages over two years. As of July 24, the minimum wage will rise to $5.85. In a year, it will go to $6.55 and finally reach $7.25 in 2009. "While this increase is a significant victory for America's lowest-wage workers, we still have a ways to go," Hurd said. "At $7.25, workers will still struggle to meet basic needs."
"ACORN and our allies will not stop organizing - at the city, state and federal levels - until the minimum wage is a living wage," Hurd added.
Last November, ACORN and its allies led campaigns in which voters approved six state ballot measures to raise the minimum wage, affecting more than 1.5 million of the country's lowest-paid workers. The ballot measures were the most high-profile victories in a year that saw an unprecedented 17 states raise their minimum wages - many for the first time. ACORN celebrates hard-won victory minimum-wage victoryMay 24, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 348-73 to approve a measure raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in three stages over the next three years. The Senate approved the increase soon afterwards, giving low-wage workers their first boost in a decade.
Although the victory will give 13 million workers a $2.10 hourly raise, it is not indexed to inflation, which has historically risen at a much faster rate.
"The minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation," Maude Hurd said after hearing the news. "We will continue to work with our allies in Congress and around the country to see the minimum wage return to something that can help sustain a working family."
The bill also approved $4.84 billion in tax breaks for small business over the next 10 years, which are intended to offset any undue burden to employers. In the news
Morality of the Minimum Wage, The Nation, Jan. 1, 2007
Growing the Minimum Wage, TomPaine.com, Nov. 27, 2006
2006 Minimum Wage Increases Sweep Six States, Associated Press, Nov. 9, 2006
Is How Much You Pay a Worker a Moral Issue?The New York Times Magazine, January 15, 2006 |
