CPC Support for a Higher Minimum Wage

Rep. Grijalva and other leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus led the call at a Dec. 5 press conference and rally in Washington, D.C., for an increase in the minimum wage. The event featured approximately 100 fast food workers on federal contracts who were striking for better pay. Media coverage highlights of the event and the push for a fairer economy are below.

NATIONAL

Fox News National

The Smithsonian McDonald's employees were joined by more than a dozen lawmakers -- members of the House Progressive Caucus -- in joining what organizers say will be a 100-city strike of fast-food workers.  As part of the Smithsonian walk-out, Democratic lawmakers and activists called on President Obama to sign an executiveorder to make companies that contract with the government pay a "livable wage."

MSNBC

“At least some of the striking fast food workers could have their wages lifted by way of a unilateral executive order from the president. In Washington, D.C., the strikers included federally contracted workers at workplaces such as the McDonald’s within the National Air and Space Museum. Because that particular McDonald’s has a contract with the federal government, workers and their allies are calling on the president to sign an order requiring that all federal contractors pay their workers a living wage.”

USA Today

“In Washington, D.C., dozens of people carried signs and marched while singing ‘Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, it's no fun, to survive, on low low low low pay”.”

MSNBC TV: Alex Wagner Now: Interview with Rep. Keith Ellison

Think Progress

“Flanked by supportive congressmen and women, the Smithsonian workers demanded President Obama issue an executive order forcing fast food companies that contract with the federal government to pay livable wages. Workers shared the difficulties they face in supporting families on annual earnings as low as $11,000. As workers chanted “We can’t survive on $8.25,” Congresswoman Jan Shakowsky (D-IL) encouraged the president to issue the order. “We had a conversation last election about the makers and the takers, about the 1 percent and the 99 percent, and Barack Obama won that election,” she said. “They can be the makers if they have money in their pockets!”

MSNBC TV:  All In with Chris Hayes:  Interview with Rep. Ellison

National Journal

“Progressives are starting to worry that President Obama may be more talk than walk when it comes to raising the minimum wage … Progressives say there’s a whole group of low-wage workers that he can fix this with the stroke of a pen.  The chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Reps. Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison, wrote a letter that urges the President to circumvent Congress and sign an executive order to raise the minimum wage for workers employed through federal government contracts. ‘It’s frustrating’ said Ellison who hand-delivered the letter to the President after his speech Wednesday.  ‘We know his heart is in the right place and he wants to do something, and this is something he can do.”

McClatchy

“Democrats have asked Obama to circumvent Congress and sign an executive order to raise the minimum wage for workers employed through federal government contracts with private companies.”         

Reuters

“Shemethia Shelithia Betler, a 33-year-old mother and cashier at a Washington-area McDonald's who earns $8.25 an hour, receives food stamps and temporary cash assistance, and said she feels like she is on the brink of homelessness."I'm worker and I'm making 8.25 an hour, and I have two kids and I'm living in poverty," Betler said during a protest in Washington.”                                                                                         

Chicago Tribune

“In Washington, federal contract workers at McDonald's inside the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum walked off the job along with others throughout the city.”

Washington Post (Photo Gallery)

Politico

“There’s a push for Obama to start taking action beyond his speech.  Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) on Wednesday delivered another copy of a letter the House Progressive Caucus sent the president urging him to sign an executive order raising the minimum wage for federal workers.  ‘He was talking about raising the minimum wage, and I’m very glad that he was, but there are 2 million people working for federal contractors who work in federal buildings every single day who make $7.25,’ Ellison said. ‘The federal government should not be leading the way to the bottom. The federal government should be an example of being willing to pay people a fair wage for hard work”.’

Joe Madison Show

“I brought home a $125 in my last paycheck but my rent is $1500 a month,” Alex Velasquez said in an interview.   

Salon

“Rep. Griljalva told Salon he found Obama’s recalcitrance to take executive action at the federal level mystifying, given that ‘the poor and the working poor have suffered the most from the recession and from sequestration,” and that higher wages would strengthen purchasing power and economic growth. “It’s not a dangerous call politically,’ he added.

Talk News Radio

“Federal workers at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s McDonalds also left work today to join in on the fast food strikes. The workers urged President Obama to sign an executive order and force federal businesses to provide employees with a livable wage.”

LOCAL

Washington City Paper

"Local fast food workers joined rallies nationwide today protesting low wages and calling on President Barack Obama to sign an executive order requiring that fair wages be considered when determining which companies the government does business with.McDonald's enjoys the prestige of being hosted by the federal government," D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton told the crowd at today's rally. "You can require that fair wages be a factor in winning the competition for a contract like the one that McDonald's has won."

CBS WUSA 9 (Photo Gallery)

"While McDonald's rakes in tons of money from its contract with the federal government, I have to walk to work because I can't evenafford the bus fare," said Alexis Vasquez, a striking federal contract worker at the McDonald's inside the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.”

CBS Local

“Fast-food workers who are under federal contract protested outside the Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in D.C., calling for President Barack Obama to make an executive order requiring a living wage. D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton joined the protesters and backed the living wage in federal contracts.”

INTERNATIONAL

Channel News Asia

"Everyone must fight this injustice. We work hard, but they don't pay us enough to survive," added Yaya Badji, a 29-year-old from Senegal who earns around $800 a month at Au Bon Pain in Washington’s Union Station. Badji, who arrived in the US a year ago, added he was "really surprised" to find wages so low.

Irish Times

“The President’s speech did little to reassure federal workers at the McDonald’s outlet in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, who walked out on their jobs to rally…”