Stop Corporate America's Attack on Local Minimum Wage Initiatives!

Lately larger U.S. cities, even some in Southern red states, are moving to help their poorer constituents by raising the minimum wage. But corporate America and state Republicans are moving just as fast to block these progressive efforts.

A report by The Nation explains how all this is going down, focusing on Birmingham, which is leading the way in the South. In early February, just hours after the City Council passed an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to S10.10, Republican Representative David Faulkner introduced a bill to roll back Birmingham’s ordinance and prevent other AL cities from following Birmingham's lead. That bill passed on February 16.

Taking their cue from Alabama and other states, lawmakers in New Mexico, Washington, and Idaho are also considering legislation that will keep minimum wage down, says The Nation, and many are getting a little, or a lot, of help from their friends like ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and other corporate-funded organizations. 

Already, says The Nation and NPR, dozens of protestors have marched on Faulkner’s wealthy city, “telling the state legislature, take your minimum-wage-picking hands out of our pockets."

These corporate-led efforts to circumvent local minimum wage initiatives are thwarting the will of the people and shackling the working poor to starvation wages. Furthermore, it's hypocritial of Republicans who complain about the federal government meddling in state affairs to push big state government on cities.

Sign this petition to insist all states reject any legislation that prohibits or otherwise undermines local efforts to raise the minimum wage.

Dear Decision Maker,


As someone who is concerned about the American economy, I strongly urge you to oppose any effort to undermine local initiatives to raise the minimum wage in your state's communities — especially those now being advanced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).


Most disturbing is how the corporate interests at ALEC are influencing state legislators to the point of providing online templates for bills that advance their profits at the expense of workers and taxpayers.

PR Watch says "corporate interests and groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have increasingly been turning to state 'preemption' measures — some of them unprecedentedly aggressive — to override an array of progressive policy gains at the city or county level," adding that the director of the watchdog group Preemption Watch noted that "2015 saw more efforts to undermine local control on more issues than any year in history,"


State General Assemblies that work to circumvent local efforts to secure a higher minimum wage are potentially thwarting the will of the people and shackling the working poor to starvation wages.


Therefore I, the undersigned, insist that all states reject any legislation that prohibits or otherwise undermines local efforts to raise the minimum wage.


[Your comments here]


Sincerely,


[Your name]

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