The AFL-CIO has launched a nationwide “Raise The Wages” campaign to put the issue of increasing incomes for workers and the middle class at the top of the national agenda.
Labor federation President Richard Trumka unveiled the campaign, to promote a wide range of ways to increase and restore workers' income and earning power, at the end of the AFL-CIO's National Summit on Raising Wages, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 7.
“The foundation is simple: Raising wages is the single standard by which leadership will be judged,” he declared to an overflow crowd of union activists and others at Gallaudet University.
The D.C. summit will be followed by events around the country, including four statewide “Raising Wage Summits” in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
The campaign will push a comprehensive platform to restore the earning power of workers and the middle class. Numbers released at the summit, and tales told by the workers speaking at the D.C. event, confirm that wages have stagnated for many people.
Economic Policy Institute data shows the median wage of the bottom 90 percent of the population grew 15 percent from 1979-2012, with all of that increase occurring 1995-2000. In those same 34 years, the top 10 percent of the population saw their annual pay rise 138 percent.
And while hourly compensation and worker productivity rose in tandem until 1973, compensation increased only 8.9 percent since then – while productivity shot up by 143 percent.
Speakers such as U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said it’s time for the wage problem to be addressed.
Trumka said labor unions will work with community allies on the campaign, which will have many threads.
In addition to supporting “workers organizing and bargaining to raise wages,” the campaign will push new legislation to strengthen worker rights. It also will work for comprehensive immigration reform and legislation guaranteeing living wages, equal pay and paid sick leave.
“The collective voice is a powerful tool – and it is the only tool to bring about lasting justice,” Trumka declared.
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The AFL-CIO has launched a nationwide “Raise The Wages” campaign to put the issue of increasing incomes for workers and the middle class at the top of the national agenda.
Labor federation President Richard Trumka unveiled the campaign, to promote a wide range of ways to increase and restore workers’ income and earning power, at the end of the AFL-CIO’s National Summit on Raising Wages, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 7.
“The foundation is simple: Raising wages is the single standard by which leadership will be judged,” he declared to an overflow crowd of union activists and others at Gallaudet University.
The D.C. summit will be followed by events around the country, including four statewide “Raising Wage Summits” in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
The campaign will push a comprehensive platform to restore the earning power of workers and the middle class. Numbers released at the summit, and tales told by the workers speaking at the D.C. event, confirm that wages have stagnated for many people.
Economic Policy Institute data shows the median wage of the bottom 90 percent of the population grew 15 percent from 1979-2012, with all of that increase occurring 1995-2000. In those same 34 years, the top 10 percent of the population saw their annual pay rise 138 percent.
And while hourly compensation and worker productivity rose in tandem until 1973, compensation increased only 8.9 percent since then – while productivity shot up by 143 percent.
Speakers such as U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said it’s time for the wage problem to be addressed.
Trumka said labor unions will work with community allies on the campaign, which will have many threads.
In addition to supporting “workers organizing and bargaining to raise wages,” the campaign will push new legislation to strengthen worker rights. It also will work for comprehensive immigration reform and legislation guaranteeing living wages, equal pay and paid sick leave.
“The collective voice is a powerful tool – and it is the only tool to bring about lasting justice,” Trumka declared.