Press Releases

Demonstrators Call On Congress To “Stop Minimizing Women” As It Considers Minimum Wage Discharge Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Scores of women and their children shared stories of dwindling hope and poverty as the Congress prepares a discharge petition to force a vote on the Fair Minimum Wage Act. More than 100 women and children, low-wage workers and their supporters rallied at the West Front of the Capitol demanding that elected officials raise the nation’s minimum wage from a meager $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. Families also called on District residents to support a voter initiative that calls for a minimum wage of $12.50 in the District of Columbia as the cost of living skyrockets above national averages here.

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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.

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Press conference will highlight struggles of minimum wage families as Wells updates his personal experience before Council votes on minimum wage legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a press conference outside the Wilson Building on Dec. 17, low-wage workers will join minimum wage coalition members and Councilman Tommy Wells as he recounts his struggles while living on a minimum salary. Wells joins a growing list of D.C. residents calling for passage of the Working Families Ballot Initiative to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour by 2017.

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Press Conference will highlight struggles of minimum wage families as Wells shops for groceries guided by a minimum wage mother of two

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a press conference outside a Safeway grocery store Dec. 11, low-wage workers will join business leaders and advocates to call for passage of the Working Families Ballot Initiative to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour. Councilman Tommy Wells will begin to endure the hardships of living on a minimum wage salary for seven days to raise wages and awareness for thousands of the District’s lowest worst-paid workers.

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[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – As fast-food workers across the nation prepare a new wave of strikes to raise their wages, McDonald’s workers will strike at the District’s Air and Space Museum and protests will be held at corporate-owned McDonald’s in Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Md., in support of the movement.

Ronald McDonald and Uncle Sam characters will distribute food stamp applications, and lead Christmas carols with special lyrics. The protests are against poverty wages and in support of the workers’ call for a living wage and the right to have a voice on the job. Following an 11 a.m. press conference at the Air and Space Museum, strikers and supporters will travel to corporate McDonald’s stores for protests in Wheaton, Md., and Arlington, Va.

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New Political Organization to Put $12.50 Minimum Wage on 2014 Ballot FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact: Joe Dinkin at 978 223 5868 or JDinkin@workingfamilies.org or Julie Karant at 646 584 9001 or JKarant@seiu32bj.org WASHINGTON — Leaders of DC …

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Washington, D.C. – On Monday, October 28^th at 10:00 a.m. ET, the largest-ever joint coalition of D.C. workers, small business owners, religious leaders and community supporters will join together to call on the City Council to pass a unified bill to increase the minimum wage, raise the tipped minimum wage and close loopholes in the paid sick days law before the Council hearing. A noon protest will be held outside the Chef Geoff’s 13^th street downtown restaurant; over 100 protesters will highlight the restaurant group as a typical bad actor in the fight for decent wages and working conditions. The protesters will also stage a second raise the wage action at a nearby McDonalds.

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Local elected officials, Washington fast-food workers, clergy and community leaders held a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 15 to unveil a new University of California, Berkeley study detailing the extent to which fast-food companies’ low wages and lack of benefits force District, Virginia and Maryland workers onto public assistance programs—and how much that costs taxpayers. “I’m an adult working 40 hours a week at McDonald’s. Every two weeks I bring home less than $380, that is poverty pay”, says McDonald’s employee Melissa Roseboro.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Supported by the Large Retail Accountability Living Wage Coalition, scores of low-wage workers employed under federal concession agreements went on their largest strike yet on Wednesday, September 25. Workers are demanding elected officials to support a living wage and a voice on the job. The coalition and striking workers marched to the White House to call on President Obama to use his executive authority and guarantee a living wage to federally contracted workers. Presidential leadership will set the tone for minimum wage legislation currently before the D.C. Council.

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OurDC joins Respect DC and District Residents Condemning Mayor’s Veto Statement on Mayor Vincent Gray’s Veto of Large Retailer Accountability Act Contact: Rev Graylan Hagler 202-302-0307 or Rev Edwin Jones at 202-468-0513 for comment. WASHINGTON, D.C.,(September 12, 2013)— Mayor Gray’s veto …

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