By Akbar Ahmed

 

In May, more than 200 Milwaukee fast-food and retail workers staged a one-day protest to demand higher wages. Michael Vanga, 18, was among them.

 

He has been working at a local Taco Bell for less than a year, and earns $7.50 an hour. He is the only wage-earner in his household; both his parents are jobless. The family is moving to a home with lower rent, but for his family and others like it, a raise in the minimum wage is critical, he said.

 

On Monday, three members of Congress donned "Raise Up MKE" T-shirts and echoed that message, discussing wage stagnation and what they consider employee exploitation during an event at the Department of Workforce Development downtown.

 

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said that when people ask her why the minimum wage should be raised during a recession, she points out that at the current minimum wage, a worker earns about $15,000 a year, far below what is needed for "basic sustenance."

 

Moore said it is worth noting that companies hiring low-wage workers "are not your mom-and-pop diners — they are Fortune 500 companies, and 92% of them had profits in the last year." She added that low-wage workers are likely to spend the majority of what they earn, boosting the economy.

 

When fast-food worker protests sprung up in numerous cities earlier this year, restaurant industry representatives said higher wages would be difficult to sustain.

 

Scott DeFife, executive vice president for policy and government affairs for the National Restaurant Association, said a typical restaurant operates on a pretax profit margin of 3% to 4%, so "any additional labor cost can negatively impact a restaurant's ability to hire or maintain jobs."

 

Moore was joined Monday by U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.) — all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which Ellison co-chairs. The three are traveling across the nation as part of the caucus' "Raise Up America" campaign.

 

Ellison said the campaign was launched because members felt income equality had gotten to "a critical stage." While he supports President Barack Obama's suggestion to raise the federal minimum wage — which, like Wisconsin's, is $7.25 an hour — to $9, he doesn't think it is enough. Ellison said he would back Rep. George Miller's (D-Calif.) bill to raise the federal minimum to $10.10.

 

Low-wage workers speaking at the event also brought up examples of what they called "wage theft," such as paying workers with payroll cards that charge for each transaction, or telling workers they will not be paid during slow periods.

 

Amere Graham, 19, a McDonald's worker, told the 70 or so people assembled outside the department that he is paid on a debit card that incurs a fee each time he asks for paper checks or to check his transactions.

"I feel that this is pathetic," Graham said.

 

 

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