Seven Days at Minimum Wage: ‘Breaking My Back for $35’

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/10/20/seven-days-at-minimum-wage-%e2%80%98breaking-my-back-for-35%e2%80%99/

Seven Days at Minimum Wage: ‘Breaking My Back for $35’

by James Parks, Oct 20, 2006

Video: At the end of the day I’m looking at $35 and pretty much broke my back. The minimum wage is just too low. Gas and food and housing, everything is going up and the minimum wage is staying the same. No, that’s not right.

Describing his exhausting jobs as a laborer working near the minimum wage, Paul Greg Valdez premieres with his partner Susan Windham in the first installment of “7 Days @ Minimum Wage.” The Oct. 23–30 video blog (vlog) event, sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN, features interviews with seven workers describing life at or near the federal minimum wage, which has been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1997 (see excerpt of first vlog at left).

Video: At the end of the day I’m looking at $35 and pretty much broke my back. The minimum wage is just too low. Gas and food and housing, everything is going up and the minimum wage is staying the same. No, that’s not right.

Describing his exhausting jobs as a laborer working near the minimum wage, Paul Greg Valdez premieres with his partner Susan Windham in the first installment of “7 Days @ Minimum Wage.” The Oct. 23–30 video blog (vlog) event, sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN, features interviews with seven workers describing life at or near the federal minimum wage, which has been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1997 (see excerpt of first vlog at left).

The AFL-CIO union movement has spearheaded America Needs a Raise campaign to raise the minimum wage at the state and federal level. The campaign has provided momentum to put the issue of raising the minimum wage on the Nov. 7 ballot in six states: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio. (Congress will be in session for a few days after Nov. 7. Tell your lawmakers: It’s time for a real vote to raise the minimum wage. Send an e-mail here.)

Valdez, who makes $6.25 an hour, has been the sole support for the couple since Windham was hurt in an accident and is unable to work. In the video, Windham says the real issue surrounding the minimum wage is respect for working people.

Let’s respect the backbone of America—who are working hard to keep it together. They’re just as important as the computer wizard.

Actress and comedienne Roseanne Barr is hosting the video blog (vlog), which can be reached at http://sevendaysatminimumwage.org/ and at YouTube.com beginning Oct. 23. Barr, a former waitress in Utah, says she became hooked on the minimum wage issue when she campaigned in Florida in 2004 to increase that state’s minimum hourly wage by $1. In her opening to the first day of the vlog, Barr says it’s outrageous to expect anyone to live on $5.15 an hour and equally outrageous that the minimum wage hasn’t been raised in 10 years.

Republican leaders in Congress prevented—yet again—any increase in the nation’s minimum wage this year, but the AFL-CIO and working families plan to keep pushing for a new law in the next Congress. Ten years after Congress approved the last raise, the federal minimum buys less than it did in 1951.

Use the link above to view video.

[IndyOp]

1. Pelosi's 100 HOUR pledge says when Dems take Congress minimum will

be raised to $7.25 per hour. VOTE UNION! Vote labor! Vote American!

Pelosi will drain the GOP swamp

Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

[Warpy]

2. Then watch Stupid veto anything that crosses his desk

She may have no choice but to start impeachment proceedings. These men are zealots. I think they'd rather just shut the whole government down than sign even spending bills. They've gotten used to funding their baby, Iraq, largely without Congressional oversight or approval.

[Catchawave]

5. I thought of that too....

...if he loses his Congress, will he get stupider? :banghead:

[skids]

3. Working people aren't the backbone of America.

It used to be that way, but these days our "backbone" has shifted to reflect our character as a nation. Our "backbone" are the liars, cheaters, theives and bullies. Dishonesty, graft, corruption and abuse of power are the new virtues and are what our society rewards.

The working class is just a hapless passenger on this hindenburg.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. A whole $35?

Wow. I don't think you figured taxes, however. $5.15 x 8 = $41.20. At 20%, withholding comes out to $8.24, leaving $32.96. Less, if you are not working in a restaurant and thus have to buy your own food.

If you have $35 at the end of a minimum wage day, you are doing well.

[sandnsea]

6. 17.65%

The lowest withholding bracket is now 10%, FICA is 7.65%. That's 7.20, I think. $34.00. I imagine $35.00 is just more memorable.

[NMMNG]

7. Everyone should read "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich

The author went undercover as a minimum/near-minimum wage worker and lived on those wages as a social experiment and that book was the result of her efforts. She also has a blog that sprang up due to the success of the book.