Wichita has its own local “Fight for Fifteen” (raise the
minimum wage to $15 per hour) activist who plan to hold a demonstration, this
Thursday, Dec. 5, outside the McDonald's at 17th and Hillside, 11:30am to
12:30pm. Nation-wide, groups across the country are pushing to raise the
minimum wage to a livable wage, now believed to be $15 per hour.
As reported by the Huffington
Post, on a similar campaign in Seattle, Washington;
“Venture capitalist
Nick Hanauer said there's no time to waste. What the nation needs is money in
the hands of regular consumers. "A higher minimum wage is a very simple
and elegant solution to the death spiral of falling demand that is the
signature feature of our economy," he said.
Some businesses
advocates say a higher minimum wage will make it harder for companies in
Seattle to survive. They cite Wal-Mart, which has all but refused to accept a
Washington, D.C., decision to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour in big
box stores.
A higher minimum wage
eliminates low wage jobs because that's how small businesses cut costs and that
ends up hurting the people it was supposed to benefit, according to the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
More than 15 million
workers earn the national minimum wage, making about $15,080 a year – $50 below
the federal poverty line for a family of two. San Francisco currently has the
highest minimum wage for all workers at $10.50 an hour.”
The usual arguments are being made that such a raise will
close small businesses or caused them to fire workers. These arguments are almost
always made by large corporations such as Wal-Mart, who usually make such
arguments. The US pays more people in the service industries such as fast food
and bargain mega marts such as Wal-Mart.
But the minimum wage has not been raised in years while
inflation has gone up. There are already too few jobs so most of those
arguments just don’t hold water during a time when the economy that is stuck
and stagnating.
Thursday will be an opportunity for Wichita workers to raise
their voices on this important issue.
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