Long overdue, the nation’s most underpaid workers got their first raise in a decade today, thanks to the nation-wide effort of thousands of workers and their allies who united to put pressure on lawmakers. The federal minimum wage rose 70 cents – from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 an hour, providing an extra $1500 annually.
The increase will no doubt ease some of the burden on working people, but minimum wage workers are still forced to live in poverty and the American Dream is out of their reach.
Senator Kennedy has proposed making the nation’s minimum wage a living wage, somewhere around $9.60 an hour, the official poverty-level wage. Some states have minimum wage levels above the federal minimum wage.
Workers and lawmakers who support a living wage will rally on Capitol Hill today.