By: Benjamin R. Freed, dcist

Employees of vendors that operate concessions inside the Smithsonian Institution’s museums are picketing along the National Mall today in protest over low wages. The demonstration is the latest in a string of protests at federal buildings across D.C. in which participants have charged that the federal government does not pay a “living wage” to the people who staff contracted businesses such as food courts, gift shops, and loading docks.

Today’s demonstrations, which got underway about 10 a.m. outside the National Air and Space Museum, included a bit of street theater in which actors depicting Ronald McDonald and Uncle Sam got in bed together. The characters were chosen to depict the “exorbitant” reimbursements contractors receive from the federal government compared with with the low hourly wages paid to fast-food workers and shop clerks. The Air and Space Museum’s food court is anchored by McDonald’s, and features several other fast food chains.

The protest is being organized by Good Jobs Nation, which has held similar events outside the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center and Union Station. Last month, the organization filed a complaint with the Labor Department alleging that eight vendors at the Reagan Building pay their workers less than the minimum wage and make them work more than 40 hours a week without overtime compensation.

Minimum wage in the District of Columbia is $8.25 per hour, a dollar higher than the federal rate. Good Jobs Nation, which says there are about 100,000 low-wage jobs in the D.C. area with vendors such as those it is protesting today, is also pushing for those companies to pay a “living wage.” A “living wage calculator” created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s urban planning department calculates the living wage for one adult in D.C. at $13.68 per hour.

Original Article: http://dcist.com/2013/07/smithsonian_vendor_workers_walk_out.php