January 23, 2007

Dear Senator:

RE: Please Support a “Clean” Minimum Wage Bill

The Change to Win federation representing seven unions with six million members urges you to vote in favor of a “clean” bill that would raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.

Minimum wage legislation is essential to bring some measure of fairness and justice to workers who toil at the bottom of the wage scale. Nearly 6 million workers – 80% of whom are adults – work at the minimum wage, which is why so many must work two and three jobs to pay the rent and buy food for their family. That is not the kind of economy we should be building in America.

Because Congress has not increased the minimum wage since 1997, it buys 20% less today than it did a decade ago. On average, corporate CEOs make more than 800 times the amount that a minimum wage worker earns in a year. A decade ago the ratio of CEO pay to minimum wage pay was 275 times more. For the sake of hard-working families and your constituents, we urge you to support a clean increase in the minimum wage to help those least able to protect themselves.

We believe such important legislation should not be held hostage to demands for business tax cuts. Effects on employment by an increase in the minimum wage are negligible at best. Moreover, many of the proposed tax cuts in the Senate Finance Committee package will have no effect on small businesses that employ workers at or near the minimum wage. Also problematic for workers is a provision in the tax package that would benefit Professional Employer Organizations, which allow worksite employers to hire contingent workers rather than hire regular employees. Such positions can mean reduced pay and benefits and loss of rights on the job for workers, and the loss of tax dollars to the public.

There are some harmful and unrelated amendments that may be offered to the bill that would undercut workers’ rights and do not belong in minimum-wage legislation. One amendment would let employers effectively abolish the 40-hour week by allowing them to deny overtime pay to workers unless the workers work more than 50 hours in a week, or more than 80 hours over two weeks. If it becomes law, employers will play games to deny workers overtime, and such a scheme will result in workers having erratic schedules that would make it difficult to raise a family. Another likely amendment would take away the state minimum wage rights of workers who earn tips to support themselves and their families.

If we want Americans to work, we need to make work pay. That means helping every American achieve the American Dream – a salary that supports a family, affordable health care, retirement security, a voice on the job, and a chance to give their kids an education and a better future.

While an increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour will not achieve the American Dream for low-wage workers, it is an important step in the right direction. We urge you to support a clean bill; not a bill that would harm workers.

Sincerely,

Anna Burger
Chair