DC Joins Push to Boost Minimum Wage

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Today marks the fourth year since the federal minimum wage was raised. Low-wage workers and their supporters are marking the anniversary by holding rallies and actions around the nation, calling on large U.S. corporations and members of Congress to raise wages for millions of the country’s lowest-paid workers. The DC observances begin at noon with an Interfaith prayer vigil at the United Methodist Church (100 Maryland Avenue NE), followed by a ROC-DC action later in the day targeting a low-wage restaurant employer in the area (email stephanie@rocunited.org for details), one of the largest members of the National Restaurant Association. Participants will urge Congress to pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, boost the tipped minimum wage, and index both to rise with the cost of living. Lobbying by the National Restaurant Association has helped keep the federal tipped minimum wage at $2.13 per hour -- where it's been frozen for the last 22 years – making the restaurant industry the largest low-wage job provider in the US, with servers experiencing three times the poverty rate, and using food stamps at double the rate of the rest of the US workforce.