…It’s not fun to survive, on low, low, low, low pay.” USA Today
Last week, Smithsonian McDonald’s employees joined with fast food workers in 100 cities to strike against poverty pay. The Smithsonian walkout marked the 6th strike by federal contract workers in the past 6 months.
WATCH THE SMITHSONIAN STRIKE VIDEO
Striking worker Melissa Roseboro told PBS News Hour that “I don’t have money to buy my grandkids Christmas presents. I got paid yesterday, and I’m broke already.”
MSNBC observed that these “low wage strikes are changing the conversation in Washington.” A year earlier, President Obama headlined his 2013 State of the Union with a vow to “finish the job” on deficit reduction – now, in a speech delivered a day before the strikes, the President called inequality the “defining issue of our time.”
“As part of the Smithsonian walk-out,” Fox News National noted, “Democratic lawmakers called on President Obama to sign an executive order to make companies that contract with the government pay a livable wage.” U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton noted that “McDonald’s enjoys the prestige of being hosted by the federal government. The President can require that fair wages be a factor in winning the competition for a contract.”
The National Journal reported that the Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Raul Griljalva and Keith Ellison wrote a second letter to the President urging executive action to help low-wage federal contract workers. “It’s frustrating,” says Ellison, who hand-delivered the letter to the President after his speech Wednesday. “We know his heart is in the right place and he wants to do something, and this is something he can do.”
Rep. Ellison also told Politico, “He was talking about raising the minimum wage, but there are 2 million people working for federal contractors who work in federal buildings every single day who make $7.25.” He added, “The federal government should not be leading the way to the bottom. The federal government should be an example of being willing to pay people a fair wage for hard work.”
Rep. Griljalva told Salon that “The poor and the working poor have suffered the most from the recession and from sequestration,” and that higher wages would strengthen purchasing power and economic growth. “It’s not a dangerous call politically,” he added.
After the strike, the The Hill noted that reporters pressed White House spokesperson Jay Carney on whether the President would act. “The President is always looking for ways to move the ball forward if Congress won’t work with him,” he responded.
The increasing pressure on the White House comes months after 50 House members and 15 U.S. Senators sent separate letters requesting the White House to help low wage contract workers. The NAACP has also urged the White House to act, as have the leaders of 24 national faith organizations.
WATCH THE GOOD JOBS NATION VIDEO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FIGHT FOR EXECUTIVE ACTION