Posts Tagged: Minimum Wage

UFCW Local 21 members were a definitive reason why the Seattle City Council passed a fair minimum wage that puts the needs of working families first.

On April 1, the city of Seattle began phasing in a $15 minimum wage. The minimum wage for workers at large businesses and national chains was bumped up to $11 per hour and will gradually increase to $15 by 2017.

From participating in actions throughout the city to sharing their personal stories at public testimony, UFCW Local 21 members were a definitive reason why the Seattle City Council passed a fair minimum wage that puts the needs of working families first.

Tobias Boucher, a UFCW Local 21 member who works at Bartell Drugs, was proud to join Seattle’s fight for $15.

“Having a higher wage will give me a little extra to invest in my future,” he said. “More people and businesses need to realize that lower wages make it really hard to succeed in life because you spend all your time just trying to make ends meet. I hope more cities and states follow the lead of Seattle.”

Minimum wage laws are a powerful tool for helping low-income workers and their families. In Seattle, many workers have been given raises that exceed the current $11 requirement. Most importantly, the efforts of UFCW Local 21 members to boost the minimum wage have sparked debates all across the country about passing wage and leave laws that give workers an improved quality of life.

UFCW members have championed a raise for workers because the current minimum wage has left too many families struggling to make ends meet.

2015 brought a pay raise for millions of Americans as minimum wage increases go into effect across the country. Minimum wage workers in 21 states and the District of Columbia will see their pay rise. For the first time ever, a majority of U.S. states will have a minimum wage above the federal minimum.

From supporting a ballot initiative in Arkansas to lobbying for the passage of legislation in Maryland, these wage hikes are happening in large part because of the hard work and dedication of UFCW members.

UFCW members have championed a raise for workers because the current minimum wage has left too many families struggling to make ends meet. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 has seen its spending power fall by nearly one-third since its peak in 1968 – it fails to keep workers and their families out of poverty.

In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to a living wage of $10.10 and they failed to act. In 2015, UFCW members will be pushing the 114^th Congress to follow the lead of 29 states and the nation’s capital and raise the minimum wage so that no worker is forced to live in poverty.