200 Organizations Announce Support for Federal $15 Raise the Wage Act of 2017

The undersigned organizations enthusiastically support the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, as introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT) and Patty Murray (WA), Representatives Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA) and Keith Ellison (MN).

If enacted, this legislation would:

  • Raise the federal minimum wage to $9.25 this year and increase it over the next seven years until it reaches $15 an hour in 2024;
  • After 2024, adjust the minimum wage each year to keep pace with growth in the typical worker’s wages;
  • Phase out the outdated subminimum wage for tipped workers, which has been frozen at a meager $2.13 since 1991; and,
  • Sunset the much criticized ability of employers to pay workers with disabilities a subminimum wage through certificates issued by DOL.
  • Phase out the subminimum wage for workers under the age of 20.

At a time when wage stagnation and income inequality pose serious threats to our families and our economy, the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 would begin to reverse that cycle and raise pay broadly across the bottom of the workforce. According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, this Act will deliver long-overdue raises to a large segment of the workforce:  more than 1 in 4 workers, 90% of whom are over the age of 20. The average age of workers who would get a raise is 36, nearly half have some years of college education, and 20 percent hold associate’s degrees or higher.  In fact, those who work year-round would see a raise in the order of $3,500 a year, which is enough to make a tremendous difference in the life of a preschool teacher, bank teller, or fast-food worker who today struggles to get by on around $20,000 per year.

More than 27 percent are working parents with children, and half have family incomes of less than $40,000 per year. Women make up nearly 56 percent of the workers who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage, which would be instrumental in helping to close the gender-wage-gap. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would also significantly benefit workers of color, with 40 percent of African Americans workers and 34 percent of Latinos seeing a pay increase once this law goes into effect.

These are the frontline workers who make America run — yet due to the erosion of the real value of the minimum wage over the last half century, they are struggling even as our economy enjoys a solid recovery.

The time for the Raise the Wage Act is long overdue, and we cannot delay in working toward its passage.  We call on Congress to enact this important piece of legislation as quickly as possible, and for President Trump to sign it when it comes to his desk.

 

Economic Policy Institute

National Employment Law Project

9to5 California
9to5 Colorado
9to5 Georgia
9to5 Wisconsin
9to5, National Association of Working Women
A Better Balance
AFL-CIO
Alliance for a Better Utah
Amalgamated Transit Union NJ State Joint Council
Amara Legal Center
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Federation of Government Employees
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
American Postal Workers Union
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA)
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
BCTGM International Union
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
CATA – The Farmworker Support Committee
Center for American Progress
Center for Community Change Action
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center on Policy Initiatives
Chicago Jobs Council
Citizen Action of New York
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Coalition of Religious Communities
Coalition on Human Needs
Colorado Center on Law and Policy
Communications Workers of America (CWA)
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces
Connecticut Legal Services, Inc.
Connecticut Voices for Children
CREDO
Crossroads Urban Center
Daily Kos
DC Abortion Fund
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
Demos
DISABILITY LAW CENTER
Disability Law Center of Alaska
Disability Rights Arkansas, Inc.
Disability Rights California
Disability Rights Center – New Hampshire
Disability Rights Center of the Virgin Islands
Disability Rights Maryland
Disability Rights Mississippi
Disability Rights NC
Disability Rights New Jersey
Disability Rights New Mexico
Disability Rights of West Virginia
Disability Rights Vermont
Disability Rights Washington
Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project
Economic Opportunity Institute
Economic Policy Institute
Economic Progress Institute (RI)
Equal Rights Advocates
Fair World Project
Family Values @ Work
Feminist Majority
Fight for $15 Cleveland
First Focus Campaign for Children
Food & Water Watch
Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
FORGE, Inc.
Forward Together
Futures Without Violence
Greater New Jersey Pride at Work
Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice
Homeless Persons Representation Project of Maryland
Indiana Institute for Working Families
Innovation Ohio
Institute for Science and Human Values
Interfaith Worker Justice
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
International Union UAW
Jesuit. Provincials of the United States
Jewish Women International (JWI)
Jobs With Justice
Justice in Motion
Kentucky Equal Justice Center
Keystone Progress
Keystone Research Center
La Plata County Thrive! Living Wage Coalition
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
Labor Project for Working Families
Lambda Legal
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Legal Aid at Work
Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Maryland Center on Economic Policy
Michigan League for Public Policy
MomsRising
MoveOn.org
NAACP
NAACP Newark, NJ Branch
National Action Network
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Association of Letter Carriers
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of La Raza
National Disability Rights Network
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project
National Employment Lawyers Association
National Immigration Law Center
National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Urban League
National Women’s Law Center
Native American Disability Law Center
Natural Resources Defense Council
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
New Jersey Policy Perspective
New Jersey Working Families Alliance
New Labor
NJ State Industrial Union Council
North Carolina Justice Center
Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network
Our Revolution
Oxfam America
PathWays PA
People Demanding Action
Policy Matters Ohio
PolicyLink
Pride at Work
Professional Aviation Safety Specialists
Progress For All
ProgressNow
Project IRENE
Raise Up Cleveland
Raise Up Ohio
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
Restaurant Opportunity Center of Boston
Restaurant Opportunity Center of Chicago
Restaurant Opportunity Center of Los Angeles
Restaurant Opportunity Center of Michigan
Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York
Restaurant Opportunity Center of Pennsylvania
Restaurant Opportunity Center of Seattle
Restaurant Opportunity Center of The Bay Area
Restaurant Opportunity Center of The Gulf Coast
Restaurant Opportunity Center of Washington, D.C.
RESULTS
Rooted in Rights
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH
SEIU Florida Public Services Union
SEIU Ohio Joint State Council No. 25
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
SiX Action
South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice
Southern Poverty Law Center
Teamsters Local 469
Texas Organizing Project
The Agenda Project
The Center for Popular Democracy
The Fairness Project
The Patriotic Millionaires
The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
The Voter Participation Center
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee
Time for a Raise
TimeBanks USA
UC Berkeley Labor Center
UDC David A. Clarke School of Law
UltraViolet
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
United Mine Workers of America
United Steelworkers (USW)
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
Utah Indivisible
Utility Workers Union of America
Voces
Voices for Progress
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Washington Metro Disabled Students Collective
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Wind of the Spirit, Immigrant Resource Center
Women Employed
Women’s Law Project
Women’s Voices, Women Vote Action Fund
Worker Justice Committee
Working America
Working Families Party
Workplace Fairness

 

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