District Women Also Support $12:50 D.C. Minimum Wage Initiative
Demonstrators Call On Congress To “Stop Minimizing Women” As It Considers Minimum Wage Discharge Petition
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Led by nearly 200 women and children, low-wage workers and their supporters will march from Union Station on Wednesday March 26, at 4 p.m. to the Capitol for a 4:30 p.m. rally and press conference. The women will call on Congress and local officials to “Stop Minimizing Women.” Two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women. An estimated 19,000 women earn minimum wage in the District of Columbia; many are heads of households and almost all are handcuffed to poverty by low wages.
“The District’s recently passed minimum wage increase doesn’t go far enough fast enough and Congress has done nothing to help working single mothers like me,” says Tena Weedon, whose daughter is attending Spelman College. “When your house is on fire, you dial 911; who do you call when your daughter’s future is going up in flames because you earn minimum wage?
“My daughter earned all but $2,000 in scholarships. A high school teacher pays the rest of her tuition because I just can’t afford it,” Weedon says. “I’ll be marching for a decent wage so I can help my child, right now I can’t.”
Scores of women with similar stories will share their struggles on the minimum wage at the press conference.
As Congress returns from its March recess, there will have been many actions across the country on raising the minimum wage. The bulk of the jobs added to the economy during the recovery were low-wage jobs. The federal government’s $7.25 minimum wage supports continued poverty for working men and women. In the District, an estimated 33,000 workers would benefit from a $10.10 federal minimum wage.
WHAT: “Stop Minimizing Women March and Rally”
WHO: Women, Children, Low-Wage Workers, Community Groups, Clergy
WHEN and WHERE: March 26, 4:00 p.m. Assemble at Columbus Circle, Union Station, march to 4:30 p.m. press conference and rally at Capitol