Mark Bittman never steers you wrong when it comes to ideas and advice on food. Now the with a strike by fast food and other low-wage workers set for Monday in several cities, Bittman, Time magazine’s lead food columnist and a New York Times columnist has a question for politicians and corporate execs who oppose paying workers a decent wage and some advice for the rest of us. He’s on the money with both.

The median age of today’s fast-food worker is over 29, and many are trying to support families. One estimate claims that a family of four needs nearly $90,000 a year to get by in the nation’s capital. That’s six minimum wage jobs. Explain to me, please, how you can be pro-family and anti-living-wage simultaneously? (Many Republicans in Congress seem to manage.)

Low-wage workers in seven cities Monday will walk off their jobs in several prominent fast food chains and retail outlets to demand a living wage, the right to form unions and an end to what they say are unfair labor practices.

The strike will come on the heels of a new report released by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). The report says although companies claim these low-wage jobs are a step toward good careers, opportunities to advance are limited for front-line workers in the fast-food industry. 

industry. 

Workers at the WCA Car Wash in Soundview in South Central Bronx, N.Y, voted unanimously to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Their victory builds on the momentum that has seen workers at seven New York City carwashes vote for a voice at work and two recent successful contract ratifications as part of the WASH New York campaign.

A new poll released today finds that 80% percent of Americans—including 62% of Republicans and 80% of Independents—support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and indexing it to the cost of living. It was last raised to $7.25 an hour in 2009.

The release of the poll came as low-wage workers and community, faith, union and other allies are staging a National Day of Action calling for passage of Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013.

Click here to sign our petition asking Congress to raise the minimum wage.

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since July 24, 2009, and tomorrow, in a national day of action in more than 30 cities across the country, a broad coalition of labor, faith, civil rights, community and policy activists will call on Congress to raise the minimum wage.

Click here to sign our petition asking Congress to raise the minimum wage.

Mahoma Lopez and his mostly immigrant co-workers at the Hot & Crusty Bakery on 63rd St. and Second Ave. in Manhattan have a collective bargaining agreement that includes wage standards, vacations, sick  days and more. But organizing their independent union and winning that contract was a struggle as a new “Op-Doc” video on The New York Times website shows.

Many of us and our families have felt the pinch of stagnant wages during the past several years, and a new study shows that while real wages (adjusted for inflation) fell by 2.8% across the board between 2009 and 2012, low- and middle-wage workers—especially women—took the brunt of the hit.  

When payday rolls around, more and more workers aren’t getting paper paychecks or direct deposits to their checking accounts, but instead are finding their wages on prepaid cards.

The new trend—especially  prevalent in low-wage industries—saves the employer money,  and means big (and mostly unregulated) profits for the banks and financial institutions that issue the cards. It also eats big chunks of the workers’ pay though a bevy of fees they must pay to access their accounts.

Marking the 75th anniversary of the nation’s cornerstone wage law, Vice President Joe Biden told a White House audience that included a number of minimum wage workers:

It’s time to raise the minimum wage and keep faith with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Workers at a Queens, N.Y., carwash are the first “carwasheros” east of Los Angeles to win a collective bargaining agreement. The new contract, announced Tuesday by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), is a part of the union movement’s continuing effort to bring workplace justice to low-wage immigrant workers.