Make today, Tuesday, January 9, 2007, a day for action.
Join with millions of other Americans today to urge the U. S. Congress to raise the national minimum wage.
Did you realize that when adjusted for inflation to 2006 dollar values, the history of minimum wage in terms of purchasing power breaks down like this:
1950 - $6.31
1968 - $9.33
1997 - $6.51
2006 - $5.15
Employment should mean that a person and/or a family can stay out of poverty, not be trapped in it.
The U.S. House is set to vote on raising the minimum wage on Wednesday, January 10.
That is tomorrow!
Be a part of this long-overdue step towards economic, workplace justice.
Today speak up and tell your Representative in the U. S. House of to vote for an increase in the minimum wage to insure that this key wage level moves up to $7.25 an hour by 2009--actually a very modest increase.
Congress needs to receive thousands of calls in support of this legislation today.
Here's what to do:
Step 1: Call 1-800-459-1887, toll-free, to be connected to the U.S. Capital Switchboard.
Step 2: Ask to be connected to your Representative's office. If you don't know your Representative's name, click http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=0&url=http://www.house.gov/writerep/.
Step 3: Enjoy this conversation or one very much like it with the staff person who answers your call. . .
"Hi, my name is _______________. I'm a constituent of yours. Please tell Rep. _______ to vote for H.R. 2, the bill to increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. It's the most basic justice and long overdue. Please pass a clean bill, with no changes that would hurt worker rights. Will Rep. _____________ vote in favor of H.R. 2?"
The U. S. minimum wage has been frozen for 10 years.
Workers need a clean increase now. Speak up and out before the day is over! What you think and say will make a difference today!
Thousands of the people we assist here in Dallas are working. The vast majority of those we encounter want to work, do work and will continue to work. The problem is earning power and low, low wages.
We must do better and today can be a beginning for us all.
___________________________
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
I just called my Representative's office and spoke to a staffer. He did not give me an answer as to whether my Rep. (Chet Edwards) is going to vote in favor of HR 2. He only asked for my mailing address and said they would get a response to me soon. I am assuming this is typical. Mr. James, this is the first time I have posted on your blog, but have had occassion to read it many times. I have been profoundly struck by a book I am currently reading titled "Random Family". It is by Adriend Nicole LeBlanc and chronicles several years of one family's life in the ghettos of the Bronx. I can't even begin to tell you how eye-opening it has been to me and yet when I'm reading the passages that so vividly descirbe the cycles of poverty, abuse, and survival techniques of these people I have to remind my self that I'm NOT reading FICTION. I pray that through this awakening and a better understanding of those who are literally trapped in poverty, that I can make a difference for someone. Thank you for spurring all of us on to ACTION today!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up Larry. I've been waiting to see what happens on this one... I don't hold high hopes for my Christian brother, and representative, in Congress. I hope he'll do what's right.
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