Rally calls for minimum-wage increase
Washington, DC,
July 16, 2013
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WSAU
Wisconsin House Democrat Gwen Moore held a rally in Milwaukee yesterday to round up support for a higher minimum wage. She was joined by fellow House Democrats Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Danny Davis of Illinois as part of a national campaign called “Raise Up.” Ellison said President Obama took a good first step by proposing a hike in the federal minimum wage from $7.25-an-hour to $9 – but Ellison said it’s not enough, and he supports a bill to raise the minimum to $10.10-per-hour. The National Restaurant Association says that with an average 4-percent profit margin, a higher minimum wage would hurt the ability of restaurants to maintain jobs. Moore, however, says it’s not the “mom-and-pop diners” that hire low-wage workers. She says many are Fortune-500 companies, 92-percent of which made profits last year. Some low-wage workers also spoke at the Milwaukee rally. They gave examples of so-called “wage theft” – companies that don’t pay employees during slow periods, or pay in the form of debit cards in which the workers must pay fees for each transaction To view this article online, please click here.
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