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