Hosted by Community Cultivators
In response to the scheduled announcement today from Senator John Edwards and Delegate Sam Rasoul
15 Now Roanoke is a community movement about raising the lowest standard of living, about ensuring decency for all of us, college degree or not. In the 2nd richest country in the world nobody, especially those who work, should live in poverty. One of our mottos is “Everyone’s worth a living wage”.
We are glad that Delegate Rasoul and Senator Edwards support establishing a living wage in Virginia! We are also glad that each of them are announcing today that they are committed to initiating a bill in their respective legislative houses calling for establishing a “LIVING WAGE” requirement for Virginia’s workers.
We encourage everyone to ask yourself, “how much is a living wage here in Virginia”? As we are sure the Delegate and Senator know that a fair standard would be at least how much a single parent with one child needs to survive, without public assistance or going into debt. In Roanoke, that is around $12.60/hr. without a car. $15/hr. with a car.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s living wage calculator, it estimates $21.53/hr. in Roanoke, and a recent report from Alliance for a Just Society lists a living wage for a single adult, no kids, as $18.70/hr. in VA.
We look forward to working with both representatives on drafting, promoting and educating Virginians on this piece legislation
Why raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $15/hr. and ensure all workers have to right to unionize?
1. Its decades overdue, and a compromise: wages should technically be $21/hr. as the MINIMUM, since they haven’t kept pace with costs of living or profit growth in the past 50 years.
2. It’s much-needed: Roanoke has double the poverty rate of the state (1 in 4 people), and the majority of jobs in our area pay less than $17.52, what a single parent with 2 kids needs.
3. It’s a win-win: when you’re paid more you spend more, you’re also more invested in your job and doing it well, and it provides a higher quality of life for all.
This conversation is an outgrowth of a national movement that low-wage workers started in December 2012. Let us also remember the importance of Unions and protecting our right to collectively bargain, without Unions we wouldn’t have a minimum wage, paid time off, benefits…
Contacts: Keith Johnson (540.443.8965), Eddie Seay (540.238.7051), Martin Jeffrey (540.330.1821).
