President Franklin Roosevelt introduced the minimum wage in 1938. It was 25 cents an hour. The intent was to guarantee every man and woman in the labor force a minimum standard of living to protect their health and well-being. Every American regardless of where they work or the work they do should be paid a living wage.
Since 1938, almost a century ago, the minimum wage has only risen to $7.25 an hour. Think about that, in this country we have well over 12 million millionaires and 600 billionaires, many of whom made their fortunes on the backs of the working poor.
The inequities in pay and healthcare were exposed with COVID-19. These underpaid workers are in grocery stores, hospitals, nursing homes, meatpacking plants, schools. They are “essential workers” and they feed this country, take care of this country and many of them died serving this country. Yet, we debate whether they deserve a living wage.
When we refuse to provide all employees a living wage, the taxpayer must step in and provide them with Medicaid, food stamps, etc. In essence we are subsidizing multi-billion and multimillion-dollar businesses that refuse to respect and pay their employees fairly. These same businesses have been given tax cut after tax cut, shared nothing with their employees and got richer and richer.
The minimum wage must be raised, thousands of workers will be lifted out of poverty and the dignity of work will be restored.
Daisy B. Foxx
Fayetteville