|
Could You Get by on $5.15 an
Hour? | |
|
A worker making the minimum wage for 40 hours a
week, 52 weeks a year makes just $10,700, well below the poverty
line for a family of three. Poverty is a crisis in America, and
it’s growing at an alarming rate.
It’s long past time for an increase to the
minimum wage. Take action today and sign on to be a citizen
co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act.
| | |
|
Dear
Working Families e-Activist,
In the past nine years, workers making
the minimum wage haven’t gotten a single raise. Not one.
And while the wage of $5.15 an hour has stayed the same, its
value has dropped precipitously, putting workers further and
further behind.
It’s long past time for
Congress to help the millions of workers earning the minimum
wage or close to it. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has
introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act, and you can help by
signing on as a citizen co-sponsor of the
bill.
Click Here to Take
Action
Since 1997, Congress has voted eight
pay raises for itself but not one dime for workers making the
minimum wage. The annual salary for members of Congress has gone
up by $31,600 in that time, while a minimum wage employee
working full-time earns just $10,700 a
year.
Just this year, Congress gave itself a
$3,100 raise. It’s time for Congress to stop working for
itself and start working for America’s families. Sign on
today to be a co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage
Act.
Click Here to Take
Action
The Fair Minimum Wage Act would raise
the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in three
steps:
- $5.85 60 days after
enactment.
- $6.55 one year
later.
- $7.25 one year after
that.
Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an
hour would mean an additional $4,370 a year for a full-time
worker, enough to pay an average of nine months of rent, pay 18
months of heat and electricity or a full year’s tuition
for a community college degree.
The increase would have an immediate,
direct impact on more than 7 million workers and an indirect
impact on millions more.
Right now, there are 37 million
Americans—including 13 million children—living in
poverty in America, and raising the minimum wage is the easiest
thing we can do to stop the rising tide of
poverty.
Please take action today and sign on
to become a citizen co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage
Act.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/fairminwage
Thank you for all you
do.
In
solidarity,
Working Families e-Activist Network,
AFL-CIO
P.S. Help us in this fight by
spreading the word. Pass this e-mail along to family and friends
and tell them how important it is to support the Fair Minimum
Wage Act.
 | 