Guide to Political Revolution, by Bernie Sanders: on Jobs
Current $7.25/hr and $2.13/hr is starvation wage
The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is starvation wage. The minimum wage must become a living wage--which means raising it to $15 an hour by 2020 and tying it to the cost-of-living increases in the future. And we must also close the
loophole that allows employers to pay workers who get tips--waiters, bartenders, hairdressers, taxi drivers, parking attendants--a shamefully low $2.13 an hour. These changes would benefit more than seventy-five million workers and their families.
Source: Guide to Political Revolution, by Bernie Sanders, p. 2
Aug 29, 2017
Minimum wage increase helps economy because workers spend it
When low wage workers have money in their pockets, they spend that money in grocery stores, restaurants, and businesses throughout this country. All this new business gives companies a reason to expand and hire more workers.
This is a win-win-win for our economy. Poverty is reduced. New jobs are created. And we reduce the skyrocketing income inequality that currently exists in this country.
Every time a minimum wage increase is proposed locally or nationally, conservative politicians and their billionaire campaign contributors claim that jobs will be destroyed.
Time and time again they have been proven dead wrong. Increasing the minimum wage is good for business as well as workers because it reduces employee turnover. When workers earn a living wage, they are more likely to stay with their company.
Source: Guide to Political Revolution, by Bernie Sanders, p. 3-7
Aug 29, 2017
Women still earn only 80% of men; minorities earn 63%
Today women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce. Yet the average woman working full-time in this country still earns just 80 cents for every dollar a man makes doing the same job. The gender pay gap is even worse for women of color.
African American women earn 54 cents, and Native American women only 58 cents or every dollar a white man earns.
Since the 1990s, more women have received undergraduate and graduate degrees than men. In spite of these gains, the gender pay gap has remained roughly the same for the past fifteen years.
Equal pay is not just a woman's issue;
it is also a family issue. When women do not receive equal pay for equal work, families across America have less money to spend on child care, groceries, and housing.
Source: Guide to Political Revolution, by Bernie Sanders, p. 13-5
Aug 29, 2017
Page last updated: Apr 10, 2019