Ohio workers have embarked on a bold effort this year to improve their lives and their communities and last night we saw their efforts bear fruit when the secretary of state certified the more than 363,000 signatures for a ballot initiative to raise Ohio’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 an hour. By placing this initiative on November’s ballot, the state’s workers are well on their way to gaining a long-overdue minimum wage increase.
At a time when corporate profits and productivity has soared, it’s outrageous that wages and salaries make up the lowest proportion of the economy since the government began keeping records in 1947. Real median earnings for men working full-time and year-round were lower in 2005 than in 1973. Last week’s new census data tell us that real median earnings for both men and women working full-time fell in 2005. Real wages for the typical worker have grown only 9 percent since 1979, while productivity has risen by an incredible 67 percent. The typical family’s real income today is still almost $1300 lower than in 2000, while household debt is out of sight.
With stagnant or falling wages, rising debt, and spiraling health and energy costs destroying our nation’s middle class, it’s outrageous that the Republican leadership in Congress continues to play games with the minimum wage at the expense of hard-working Americans. In the face of continued inaction in Congress, it’s no wonder Ohio working families have taken matters into their own hands.
We applaud Ohioans for a Fair Minimum Wage -- a coalition of community, faith-based and labor organizations co-chaired by the Ohio AFL-CIO -- that fought so hard to get this vital initiative on the ballot.
The AFL-CIO’s “America Needs a Raise” campaign has also led efforts in 19 states to increase the minimum wage through state legislation or ballot initiatives this year. The AFL-CIO is driving ballot initiatives in six states: Missouri, Ohio, Arizona, Montana, Colorado and Nevada, and has pushed minimum wage legislation this year in 13 others.
Contact: Esmeralda Aguilar 202-637-5018
