Pentagon Workers Strike Over Poverty Pay

(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