Be concerned with us: Fair Minimum Wage Act and Human Trafficking

Written on: March 31, 2014

As Grey Nuns we strive to create a Compassionate World. We invite you to join us in these efforts which respect the dignity inherent in each person. A fair minimum wage respects those willing to work  to support themselves and their families. The Pope’s initiative unites Organizations opposed to Human Trafficking to bring global attention to this travesty.  The Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart have joined these efforts and encourage your participation. “What you did for the least of these, you did for me” Mt. 25

Minimum Wage Vote in Senate

Next week the Senate will vote on the Fair Minimum Wage Act.  If this bill passes, more than 15 million women would get a raise, including more than 1 in 5 working mothers.  Nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women – so there’s no question that this is a critical vote for women and their families. Your Senators need to hear from you. Let’s flood their phone lines with calls demanding that they do right by women and raise the minimum wage!

Call the Senate Switchboard (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to one of your two Senators and tell her/him it’s time to raise the minimum wage.

• When connected to your first Senator’s office, tell the person who answers the phone:

o    Your name, where you are from, and that you are a constituent and a person of faith.

o    “Please tell Senator ________ to vote YES on the Fair Minimum Wage Act. Thank you.”

• Then call back to reach your second Senator.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act will give minimum-wage workers a much-needed raise. The bill will gradually raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, and index it to inflation so it will keep up with the rising cost of living. It will also increase the minimum cash wage for tipped workers to 70 percent of the regular minimum wage – because right now, employers can pay tipped workers an hourly wage of just $2.13 and count tips to make up the difference between $2.13 and the minimum wage.

Need a good reason to call your Senators? Here are five:

• Women are nearly two-thirds of minimum-wage workers.
• Tipped workers are twice as likely to live in poverty as other workers.
• Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 would raise full-time workers’ annual earnings by $5,700 – enough to pull a family of three out of poverty, instead of falling more than $4,000 below the poverty line.
• Raising the minimum wage will boost pay for millions of workers – generating additional economic activity and creating jobs as workers spend this income quickly to make ends meet.
• Raising the minimum wage would help close the gender wage gap, especially for women of color, who are disproportionately represented among minimum wage workers.

Increasing the minimum wage is good for workers, their families, and the economy. Please call and urge your Senators to vote YES on the Fair Minimum Wage Act.

Pope Francis’  Anti-Trafficking Initiative

Eradicating modern slavery and human trafficking across the world by 2020 is the objective of a ground-breaking agreement announced on 17 March 2014 at the Vatican. This unprecedented agreement among representatives of major faiths inaugurates the Global Freedom Network (GFN).

The Global Freedom Network is an association of faith leaders that support this initiative. The Global Freedom Network will also carry out a program of coordinated action and activity with international organizations, governments and national authorities, civil society organizations and NGOs, as well as people of good will around the world, to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking by 2020 throughout our world and for all time.

To learn about the new organization click on the name Global Freedom Network

This entry was posted in With a Heart for Justice and tagged: $10.10, boost pay, civil society organizations, Fair Minimum Wage, families, Global Freedom Network, good for workers, governments and national authorities, Human Trafficking, international organizations, Major Faiths, Matthew 25, modern slavery, NGOs, Pope Francis, poverty, Senators voting, the economy, trafficking, Vatican