Pentagon Workers Strike Over Poverty Pay
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Just days
before President Obama delivers his State of
the Union remarks, federally contracted food
servers and janitorial workers at the Pentagon
and four other U.S. government buildings walked
off their jobs Wednesday morning, calling on
President Obama to sign an executive order
ensuring companies doing business with the
federal government pay a living
wage. “I
haven’t received a raise in the 9 years
I’ve worked at the Pentagon,” said Jerome
Hardy, who earns $9 an hour as a contracted
food server at the Courtyard Cafe in the
Pentagon. “I serve heroes, but my raises
amount to zeros.” The strike marks the first time
Pentagon workers have walked off their jobs as
part of the Good Jobs Nation campaign,
and marks the seventh strike in seven months by
contract workers at landmark federal buildings,
including Union Station, Smithsonian museums,
The Old Post Office, and the Ronald Reagan
Building. “Too many
Americans work full-time for federal
contractors and live in poverty,” Rep. Keith
Ellison (DFL-MN), co-chair of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus, said. “If the President
signs an executive order to raise the pay of
low-wage contractors, it will have a
significant positive impact on the debate to
raise wages for all workers,” said Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-VT). photo:
Listbeth Caceres,
worker at McDonalds in the Pentagon; photo
courtesy Good Jobs
Nation