Minimum Wage

Just got this from the Sojourner's listserv. The logic struck me kind of weird though, from the perspective of someone who once earned minimum wage after receiving a Bachelor's degree, read on...

"As a person of faith, I believe that people who work hard and play by the rules should not be living in poverty.I ask that you vote in favor of legislation to raise the minimum wage to at least $7.25 an hour, and to oppose any "poison pill" provisions that would weaken existing minimum wage eligibility, overtime protections, or other labor laws. A job should keep you out of poverty, not in it! A raise in the minimum wage rewards work, and will lift countless families out of poverty.Thank you for your time."

Uh... $7.25 / hour still sounds like poverty to me! It gets you about $14,500/year, vs. about $10,300/year.

While this is a very significant raise, you need to earn perhaps closer to the upper $20K range to be out of "poverty", but that doesn't mean you can ever hope to buy a home apart from Habitat or a subsidy program.

My point is that this raise of nearly 50% won't take anyone out of poverty, but the argument from the other side of the table is that it will handcuff employers from being able to hire more people, since people will cost at least 50% more money to hire.

I think it's a great thing to try to eliminate poverty but the Sojourner's haven't gone far enough! We should lobby for a $18/hr minimum wage if we are serious about ending poverty...

Dear N,
Call representative your today at (202) 224-3121...

Demand an increase in the minimum wage to at least $7.25/hour
Last month when more than 600 Christians passionate about social justice came to Washington to demand an increase in the minimum wage as part of A Covenant for a New America, we knew good things were starting to happen.

So far this year, 192 House members have asked for a vote to raise the minimum wage to $7.25, and just two weeks after the Covenant launch, 28 Republicans urged their leadership to hold a vote to increase the minimum wage this month. We and countless others have put on so much pressure to demand fair wages that later today, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on an increase to the minimum wage.

After you call, forward this message to 10 friends who share your values.The vote could happen in the next several hours, so time is of the essence!

The latest New York Times/CBS poll finds that more than 85 percent of respondents supported raising the minimum wage over the next two years to $7.25 an hour from $5.15 an hour...

Peace and Blessings,
The Sojourners/Call to Renewal Policy and Organizing Team