Packed Church Tells Gray: Sign the D.C. Living Wage Bill
Several hundred community, faith and worker activists rallied Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., in Mayor Vincent C. Gray's home ward to urge him to sign a living wage bill for workers in big-box stores like Walmart.
Rousing the crowd at the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church, D.C. City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson noted that economic equality was a centerpiece of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. But that equality remains out of reach when employers deny workers a living wage.
So how do we achieve economic equality with wages this low? We don’t! These aren’t good jobs if the workers need public assistance…I call on the mayor to put workers first.
"We want not just jobs, but decent jobs. What do we want? A #livingwage. When do we want it? NOW!" #LRAA
— OurDC (@our_dc) August 27, 2013
In late June, the D.C. City Council passed the Large Retailer Accountability Act (LRAA) that calls for a $12.50 an hour wage. Gray has yet to say if he will sign or veto the living wage bill. D.C. residents have mounted an email and phone campaign to urge the mayor to listen to voters, not Walmart lobbyists and lawyers.
Metropolitan Washington Council President Jos Williams reminded the crowd that as a candidate, Gray said he supported a living wage.
While wages have been stagnant for most workers—especially low-wage workers—Mendelson pointed out that if the minimum wage had risen at the same rate as the increase wealth for the top 1%, it would now stand at $33 an hour.
Peter Davis of the Center for Study of Responsive Law told the crowd that that Walmart CEO Mike Duke made more during the course of the two-hour meeting than most Walmart workers make in a year.
Walmart executives penny-pinch everyone’s wages but their own.
D.C. Council member Vincent C. Orange urged Gray to:
Give us some dignity by giving us a living wage….Mayor Gray, it’s time to sign the living wage bill.
If you are a D.C. resident, click here to send Gray an email urging him to sign the living wage law.
See a highlight video from Respect DC below:
