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Omaha Steve

(99,073 posts)
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:31 PM Jun 2014

Federal Contract Workers Tell Obama: $10.10 Isn't Enough


http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-11/federal-contract-workers-tell-obama-10-dot-10-isnt-enough

By Josh Eidelson June 11, 2014

In January, federal contract workers and congressional Democrats hailed President Obama’s decision, following seven strikes at federal buildings, to impose a $10.10 minimum wage floor for many workers under future government contracts. On Thursday, some of those workers will tell the president it isn’t good enough.

“I need to pay the rent, to help my son, to go to school,” says Marie Ferrier, a McDonald’s (MCD) employee at the Pentagon and an activist with Good Jobs Nation, the federal contract workers’ campaign backed by the labor federation Change to Win and its largest union, the Service Employees International Union. “When I go to the doctor, I pay for that,” she says. “At work, they don’t give you 40 hours. … That’s why it’s not enough.” A White House spokesperson declined to comment.

Ferrier is one of several hundred nonunion workers employed by private companies under federal contracts who signed a letter to Obama to be released Thursday. Calling strikes and protests “the only way we can make our voices heard” while government agencies “that depend on our labor stand by when the private businesses they contract with exploit and mistreat us,” the letter urges Obama to “direct the federal agencies that contract with our employers—the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the General Services Administration—to require their contractors to bargain with us over fair wages and working conditions in return for our commitment not to strike.”

STORY: Mapping the Places Where Higher Minimum Wages Bite Hardest: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-06/mapping-the-places-where-higher-minimum-wages-bite-hardest

FULL story at link.

9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Federal Contract Workers Tell Obama: $10.10 Isn't Enough (Original Post) Omaha Steve Jun 2014 OP
Good. Rod Beauvex Jun 2014 #1
K&R.... daleanime Jun 2014 #2
Wait... Dr Hobbitstein Jun 2014 #3
If they give full-time hours madville Jun 2014 #4
Once again, this is not on Obama... Dr Hobbitstein Jun 2014 #6
I don't see the blame falling on Obama at all Omaha Steve Jun 2014 #7
OK. Dr Hobbitstein Jun 2014 #8
$10.10 in DC? madville Jun 2014 #5
Hmmm...wonder how much those contractors in Iraq are making? dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #9
 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
3. Wait...
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:36 PM
Jun 2014

So, it's not that $10.10 isn't enough, its the employers aren't giving the hours.

Remind me again how this is Obama's fault?

madville

(7,397 posts)
4. If they give full-time hours
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:42 PM
Jun 2014

They have to provide health insurance, not a hard decision for business owners (contractors).

Omaha Steve

(99,073 posts)
7. I don't see the blame falling on Obama at all
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:46 PM
Jun 2014

He took executive action while our Families Values Congress said no again to yet something that would help families. A higher minimum wage.

 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
8. OK.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:47 PM
Jun 2014

Just clarifying. You are correct on the do-nothing Congress. Their family values include neither families nor values.

madville

(7,397 posts)
5. $10.10 in DC?
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:44 PM
Jun 2014

That's ridiculous. I have passed on applying to potential promotions because they are in the DC area. I would rather make $60k in a somewhat rural area than $80-90k in DC. Maybe the last few years or something to boost up my pension.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
9. Hmmm...wonder how much those contractors in Iraq are making?
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 07:26 PM
Jun 2014

and the herds of them over in Africa......
i wonder wonder wonder....

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