ACTION
ALERT: CLOSE SENATE VOTE EXPECTED FRIDAY: TELL SENATORS
TO OPPOSE BAIT AND SWITCH MINIMUM WAGE PASSED
BY THE HOUSE
8/3/06
CLOSE
SENATE VOTE expected Friday. TAKE ACTION NOW!
CALL
YOUR SENATORS TOLL FREE, 800-459-1887*
EMAIL
YOUR SENATORS through Interfaith Worker Justice
by clicking here.
Tell Senators to Vote NO on legislation that
undermines the Fair Labor Standards Act and holds
minimum wage workers hostage to budget-busting
giveaways for millionaires and billionaires. Tell
them to support a clean minimum wage raise with
no poison pills.
Legislation
passed by the House, HR 5970, The Estate
Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act of 2006:
-
CUTS THE PAY OF TIPPED MINIMUM
WAGE WORKERS.
-
RAISES THE MINIMUM WAGE AT AN UNACCEPTABLY SLOW
RATE.
-
GIVES BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TAX CUTS
TO WEALTHY HEIRS to fortunes
from Wal-Mart and other low-wage businesses.
More
tax cuts for the nation's richest heirs means:
-
MORE BUDGET CUTS in health
care, education, environment, economic development
and other vital services and infrastructure.
-
Hundreds of billions of dollars in INCREASED
NATIONAL DEBT to be paid by working
families in the future.
HR
5970, The Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief
Act of 2006, slowly raises the federal
minimum wage to $5.85 an hour on January 1, 2007,
$6.55 on June 1, 2008, and $7.25 on June 1, 2009.
In those three years, inflation will shrink
the long-overdue raise.
HR
5970 cuts the minimum wage for tipped workers
in seven states. Under current federal
law, employers can pay tipped employees as little
as $2.13 an hour if tips bring their pay to at
least $5.15. Seven states require the same minimum
wage rate for tipped and non-tipped employees:
Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada,
Oregon, and Washington. HR 5970 cuts the wages
of tipped employees in these states by striking
down state and local laws that require employers
to pay a full minimum wage without relying on
tips from customers. It would deal an especially
severe blow to workers in states such as Oregon
and Washington where the minimum wage is now $7.50
and $7.63 respectively, and adjusted annually
for inflation.
HR 5970 undermines the Fair Labor
Standards Act. As the Economic Policy
Institute explains, "HR 5970 is the first
time in history that the federal government has
acted to put a ceiling on minimum wage levels,
rather than establishing a national floor from
which the states can make improvements."
TAKE
ACTION NOW!
Call
Your Senators Toll-Free, 800-459-1887* and tell
them:
Vote
NO on HR 5970 and any legislation that undermines
the Fair Labor Standards Act and holds minimum
wage workers hostage to budget-busting giveaways
for BillionHeirs.
*The
toll-free number directs you to the U.S. Capitol
Switchboard - call twice; first ask for one of
your Senators, then the other.
The
toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American
Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization
whose work for social justice, peace, and humanitarian
service includes campaigns for a moral budget
and a fair minimum wage (www.afsc.org/economic-justice/).
AFSC welcomes groups to circulate and use the
toll-free number in support of nonpartisan budget
goals and without linking the alert to a website
soliciting donations or actions which may be used
to support partisan lobbying or work.
RESOURCES
Let Justice Roll Chart: States
With Minimum Wage Above $5.15 Federal Rate
Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Putting
Their Cards on the Table: Senate Budget Bill Indicates
Intention to Pay for Tax Cuts by Sweeping Cuts
in Programs for Middle- and Low-Income Households,
8/2/06
CBPP,
Since
Last Minimum Wage Increase, Congress Has Reduced
Estate Tax Burdens Nine Times, 8/2/06
CBPP, Comparing
the House Minimum Wage and Estate Tax Proposals:
Who Benefits and By How Much?, Revised 8/1/06
Economic
Policy Institute, House-passed
minimum wage bill cuts wages for tipped employees
in seven states by as much as $5.50 per hour,
7/31/06
United for a Fair Economy and Public Citizen Congress
Watch, Spending
Millions To Save Billions: The Campaign of the
Super Wealthy to Kill the Estate Tax, April
2006 |
