My messgae to Bernie Sanders...

I delivered this message to Bernie Sanders:

This is an interesting discussion about the Minimum Wage.

So you think the poverty Minimum Wage you join the Democrats in advocating is "better than nothing."

Essentially what is being said is that increased spending resulting in a miserly increase in the Minimum Wage for the poorest section of the working class is supposed to spur job growth for the non-poverty sections of the working class.

What kind of working class unity feeds into this trough of capitalist "consumerism" rather than insisting on all workers being paid a real living wage?

This is nothing but submission, and capitulation, to Wall Street brainwashing.

Here is the deal my friends.

How would those of you making real living wages like me to circulate a petition calling for you to live on $10.10 an hour?

I think that it is utterly pathetic that a socialist politician and a bunch of union "leaders" along with these foundation-funded outfits and think-tanks would be advocating for legislating a poverty minimum wage as they talk about how everyone is entitled to a living wage.

The word "hypocrisy" comes to mind.

What kind of people advocate legislating poverty? I would expect this kind of thinking from Republicans and Wall Street bribed politicians, not socialists and labor leaders.

"Better than nothing." I would expect this kind of talk from those who "negotiate" concession after concession in union contracts. It is a non-struggle position.

You know; Democrats in Wisconsin are using the exact same "logic" and "reasoning" as they propose raising the Minimum Wage in their state from $7.25 an hour to $7.60 an hour--- a whopping thirty-five cent "increase" is what they are advocating after all their grand talk about how everyone is entitled to a "living wage."

Since when do liberals, progressives and leftists advocate maintaining poverty under the guise that it is "better than nothing?"

You know; I have heard the exact same thing from managements who say: "Take it or leave it; this is our final offer. It's better than nothing."

I think union "leaders" are afraid this mass campaign by rank-and-file workers and grassroots working class activists for a real living wage will lead to a better standard-of-living than what they have "negotiated" in concessionary contracts for their members paying dues. They resent the fact that workers who are fed up with poverty haven't turned to them for help.

Unorganized workers are taking the lead in demanding what politicians and labor leaders have refused to fight for: a decent standard-of-living for everyone. And now these politicians and labor "leaders" come along and try to push a poverty wage down our throats at the peak of a struggle for "living wages." I am sure Wall Street appreciates their efforts in disrupting this movement to achieve a universal real living wage being established through Minimum Wage legislation.

The huge super-profits Wall Street derives from poverty wages are enormous. Most people forced to live on poverty wages would consider this "better than nothing" approach as nothing but betrayal.

We have the opportunity to win a real living wage in this country right now.

We need to tell these Democrats: "No living Minimum Wage; no votes."

And I don't want to hear this crap about, "The Republicans won't let us."

Here in Minnesota the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party has a super-majority that the Republicans can't even challenge. All the Republicans can do is sit back and cry. We have a Democratic Governor, Mark Dayton; a Democratic majority in the State House, and a solid Democratic majority in the State Senate.

What have these Democrats here in Minnesota with their super-majority done in their first super-majority legislative session on the Minimum Wage?

Nothing!

They wouldn't even use their unchallenged power to raise the Minimum Wage a plug nickle and Minnesota has one of the lowest Minimum Wages in all of North America--- $6.15 an hour! Lower than Mississippi!!!

Now, I would suggest to all of you that you contact the Democratic Party and tell them to tell Minnesota Democrats to establish the standard for how the Minimum Wage should be established in this country.

There is only one way to establish a just and living Minimum Wage.

We do this by legislatively tying the Minimum Wage to ALL "cost-of-living" factors as tracked by the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics; index this to inflation and periodically provide an increase to improve the overall "standard-of-living."

Bernie Sanders should come into Minnesota while we are in the midst of this struggle for a "living wage."

I don't hear one single politician calling for a "poverty wage" yet they are all wiling to legislate a poverty wage. How is this reconciled with talk about a living wage. It can't be reconciled except through hypocrisy.

We have a chance to force this Democratic super-majority in Minnesota to pass Minimum Wage legislation that can be a model for every state, the Nation and the rest of the world; and here sits Bernie Sanders twiddling away this opportunity and tailing the Democrats.

If Bernie Sanders can't come into Minnesota now as a socialist advocating for a real living--- non-poverty--- Minimum Wage, don't bring him and his campaign to Minnesota running for president, either.

Am I making myself clear, Bernie?

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