Dem Calls For Higher Minimum Wage, Paid Sick Days For All

[Tx4obama]

Raise Minimum Wage By 35 Percent, Peg It To Inflation: Senate Dem

WASHINGTON -- Legislation introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on Thursday included a litany of measures aimed at boosting income for low-wage workers, most notably raising the minimum wage significantly and pegging it to inflation.

Along with spending on school modernization and renewable energy development, the Rebuild America Act calls for raising the minimum wage from the current federal level of $7.25 to $9.80 -- a 35 percent hike -- over the course of two and a half years, then indexing it so it rises with the cost of living. For restaurant servers and other tipped employees, the minimum wage before tips would leap from the current $2.13 to $6.86, and then track at 70 percent of the normal minimum wage.

The bill would also require employers to offer their workers paid sick days, make more white-collar workers eligible for overtime pay that they're currently exempted from, and give more workers the right to join a union.

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Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/minimum-wage-tom-harkin_n_1389457.html

[sakabatou]

1. Yes!

[Sherman A1]

2. Agreed

however, I don't see this getting too far in the GOP controlled House.

[sakabatou]

3. Ain't that the sad truth

[Ken Burch]

6. That's part of the point. We need to MAKE them vote it down!

We need to get them on record as killing as many good ideas as possible between now and November.

That's what Truman did...and that's how he flipped the House back in '48(as well as getting another term for himself).

[3waygeek]

4. Well, the minimum wage is definitely lower than it should be...

But pegging it to the CPI probably isn't the best move, as the CPI doesn't seem to reflect reality. For example, food & energy prices (two major items in any household budget) aren't even counted in the CPI.

I read here recently that if, since 1990, the minimum wage had kept pace with CEO salaries, it'd be up to $23 per hour.

[mathematic]

9. Get better sources

Food and energy are absolutely part of the CPI. Perhaps its time to realize that your friend's neighbor's cousin (or the internet equivalent) is not the best source of technical information about government statistics.

www.bls.gov

[quakerboy]

10. Still seems better than not

CPI seems better than a static number.

[Ken Burch]

5. This is why SOME of us supported Harkin's presidential campaign in '92.

How much different the Nineties would have been with the man from Iowa as president.

[Egalitarian Thug]

7. I'm shocked.

The minimum for tipped employees in the 80's was $2.01, so I learn today that it has only gone up $0.12 in 20+ years!

[quakerboy]

11. I was shocked to learn that this was a thing

a legal sub-minimum wage? It seems ridiculous that this even exists.

[Arkana]

8. How the hell did the state that elected Tom Harkin also elect Chuck Grassley?

Seriously, inquiring minds want to know.

[OnyxCollie]

12. Wait for the rest of the Dems

to leave Sen. Harkin to twist in the wind.

[great white snark]

13. See post #6

You think Harkin expects this to pass?

[ellisonz]

14. Time to ramp up...

...that Good Olde Time CLASS WARFARE!