A guarantted livable wage should be our goal. In the meantime increasing the minimum wage of workers is necessary. The federal minimum wage for all workers should be set to at least $15 per hour, indexed to inflation.
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 for more than 11 years. Millions still struggle to get by on poverty wages, while the cost of rent, healthcare, and medicines keep going up. The time for bold action is now. Congress has a chance to benefit nearly 40 million people by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour – but they’ll only do it if WE demand action.
Ralph Nader, in an excerpt from his forthcoming book “To the Ramparts: How Bush and Obama Paved the Way for the Trump Presidency, and Why It Isn’t Too Late to Repair the Damage” (Seven Stories Press), describes the retreat of Democrats from raising the minimum wage when they had the chance during President Obama’s first term:
Riding in on a progressive wave, the Democrats seemed primed to boost the wage minimum wage after Obama’s election. The minimum wage did rise in 2009, but this was no thanks to the people in power — it was part of a previous graduated increase that had started in 2007, led by the late senator Ted Kennedy. Since that time no movement has been seen, although Obama had eight years to fight for it.
President Trump’s election and the GOP capture of both houses of Congress makes raising the minimum to a livable wage even more remote. That’s just fine with the Democratic establishment. The $15 minimum wage made it into the 2016 Democratic platform thanks to Bernie Sanders’ influence. But there’s a gap between a platform plank and action. Working Americans Need Independent Politics
24 U.S. States Will See a Minimum Wage Increase in 2020 Washington’s $13.50 per hour and California’s $13.50 per hour lead states’ new minimum wages.
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