Nebraska has
just joined nine other U.S. states in voting to increase the state minimum wage to $15! This is a huge victory for working people, who previously received as little as $9 an hour under the prior state minimum wage rate.
A strong majority of voters supported the referendum in the deep-red state, sending a clear message to the federal government: increasing the minimum wage is a bipartisan issue supported by voters across party lines.
Sign now to demand Congress finally increase the federal minimum wage to $15!The federal minimum wage has not increased since 2009, when Congress approved a hike from $6.55 to $7.25. The 13-year gap since then marks
the longest amount of time Congress has gone without increasing the minimum wage since it was introduced in
1938. In the meantime, inflation has driven prices up so much that
a person working full-time earning a minimum wage in 2009 was effectively making $5,000 more than a person earning the same wage and working the same hours today.
To make matters worse, some states -- like Louisiana and Mississippi -- don't even have a state minimum wage at all, meaning workers there can still bring home a measly $7.25 an hour.
According to experts, that's
too little money to afford rent on a 1-bedroom apartment almost anywhere in the whole of the United States.
The federal minimum wage must be increased if we expect working class people to be able to survive, let alone live comfortably. Activists have been organizing for a $15 minimum wage for so long that some argue it is no longer even enough to really live on anymore. But a minimum wage hike is still a necessary step toward pay equity for all working people -- Democrat or Republican.
Congress must raise the minimum wage now! Sign the petition if you agree!