Here we go again with a bunch of liberal do-gooders telling working people what the Minimum Wage should be...

These "faith leaders" should be commended for grappling with the minimum wage issue...

However, here we go again with a bunch of well-heeled do-gooders telling working people what the minimum wage should be.

The time has come for the wealthiest country in the world to establish the Minimum Wage based upon the scientific calculations of the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics based upon real cost of living factors.

Any school child understand what these "leaders of faith" do not comprehend; and that is that you cannot eliminate poverty while paying people poverty wages.

Not one of these preachers would live on $10.00 an hour... nor, could they provide for their families on $10.00 an hour based salaries so why would they expect any working class family to have to try scraping buy on such a pittance?

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council


National Faith Leaders Call for Lifting Economy by
Raising Minimum Wage

Living Wage events link MLK Dream to ending poverty
wages

From: Let Justice Roll

January 9, 2009

http://www.letjusticeroll.org/

Washington, DC

The leaders of 11 denominations and national faith
organizations are among the inaugural signers of Let
Justice Roll's letter in support of a $10 federal
minimum wage in 2010. Nearly 400 faith leaders from all
50 states have already endorsed $10 in 2010 and more
are signing on every day.

Let Justice Roll, a national coalition of faith,
community, labor and business organizations, will hold
Living Wage events this weekend and on the Martin
Luther King holiday weekend as part of the "$10 in
2010" campaign and in support of state and local living
wage campaigns.

"Well before the recession, growing numbers of employed
men and women sought help at food banks and homeless
shelters because they could not live on poverty wages,"
said Rev. Steve Copley, chair of Let Justice Roll. When
the federal minimum wage increased to $6.55 an hour
last July, it still left workers with less buying power
than they had in 1997, at the start of the longest
period without a raise since the minimum wage was
enacted in1938.

"Our economy wouldn't be in such a mess if wages had
not fallen so far behind the cost of living and income
inequality had not grown to levels last seen on the eve
of the Great Depression," said Holly Sklar, senior
policy adviser for Let Justice Roll and co-author of A
Just Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Business and Our
Future. "As we are seeing so painfully, an economy
fueled by rising debt rather than rising wages is a
house of cards."

It would take about $10 to match the buying power of
the 1968 minimum wage. "It is immoral that the minimum
wage is worth less now than it was in 1968, the year
Dr. Martin Luther King was killed while fighting for
living wages for sanitation workers," said Rev. Copley.
"It's also bad for the economy. Minimum wage dollars go
right back to local business through spending on food,
healthcare and other necessities."

Most of the 27 states with minimum wages higher than
the federal level have unemployment rates that are
lower than the federal level.

Congregations and organizations in states such as
Tennessee, Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California
and Colorado will hold Living Wage services and events
this month. For example:

- In Nashville, TN, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and
Unitarian services will be part of a campaign for a
citywide living wage ordinance, and the interfaith
coalition will march in the annual Martin Luther King
Day parade with signs that say "Living Wage Was Part of
His Dream" and "Let Justice Roll."

- In Nashua, NH, the president of the Unitarian
Universalist Association, Rev. William G. Sinkford,
will preach at a Living Wage service.

In addition to federal work, Let Justice Roll is
currently organizing to raise state and local minimum
wages in Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma
and Tennessee. Recently, Let Justice Roll helped
workers in Kansas City, KS, more than double their pay
from the lowest-in-the-US state minimum of $2.65 an
hour. And Let Justice Roll is looking ahead to new
campaigns in the South, where so many workers suffer
the hardship of poverty wages.

Most of the ten occupations projected by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics to have the largest employment growth
during 2006-2016, such as retail salespersons, fast
food workers, home health aides and janitors, have
disproportionate numbers of minimum wage workers.

"A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in
it," said Holly Sklar. "The minimum wage sets the wage
floor, and we cannot build a strong economy on
downwardly mobile wages and rising poverty, inequality
and insecurity. As President Roosevelt understood, we
have to raise the floor to lift the economy."

Inaugural "$10 in 2010" faith leader signers include:

Rev. Steve Copley, Chair of the Board, Let Justice
Roll; Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National
Council of Churches USA; Dr. Sharon Watkins, General
Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) in US & Canada; Rev. John H. Thomas, General
Minister and President, United Church of Christ; Rev.
Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Rev. William G. Sinkford,
President, Unitarian Universalist Association; Rabbi
David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism; Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary,
American Friends Service Committee; Sister Simone
Campbell, Exec. Director, NETWORK: A National Catholic
Social Justice Lobby; James Winkler, General Secretary,
United Methodist General Board of Church & Society;
Rev. Alexander Sharp, Exec. Director, Protestants for
the Common Good; Rev. Kim Bobo, Exec. Director,
Interfaith Worker Justice.

For the full text of the $10 in 2010 letter,

as well as information on signing, please visit

http://www.letjusticeroll.org/

or call Rev. Steve Copley at 501-626-9220.