At a “Workers’ Rights Town hall” meeting on Monday night, U.S. Representative Alan Grayson (D-Florida’s 9th Congressional District) clearly laid out the case for a raise in America’s minimum wage, while debunking the false talking points against it.
Before a standing room only crowd of more than two hundred people, Grayson said, it’s time to increase the minimum wage from its current $7.25 per hour to $10.50 per hour.
“I want America to be number one not just in military spending, not just number one in the number of people incarcerated, but number one in wages, number one in benefits and number one in a strong middle class,” he said.
Grayson said, America’s shrinking middle class is not much talked about, but the truth is, more and more people are dropping out because they are not receiving the wages and benefits to help them remain in the middle class.
Notwithstanding the substantial increases in food, housing and gas since 1994, the cost of labor has gone up by zero. “We are fundamentally underpaying people when we are overpaying for gas, housing and food – all the things people need to survive.”
Grayson said he has introduced a bill in Congress called the “Catching Up to 1968 Act” which seeks to recover the 1/3 in lost value of the minimum wage, adjusted for inflation. He would like to see cost of living adjustments made automatically to the minimum wage, going forward.
“There is an overwhelming majority of Americans who feel it’s time to give a raise to those who work,” he said. “People don’t like the idea that Americans are working – sometimes two jobs – and are still living in poverty.”
Drawing on international comparisons, he noted that the minimum wage in Australia – $16.00 per hour – is more than twice that of the United States, with a much lower unemployment rate. He also pointed out that every industrialized country has a higher minimum wage than America.
Grayson rejected the false talking points of those who suggest that if the minimum wage is increased, unemployment will rise, prices will increase and the economy will collapse.
(See videos of “Workers’ Rights Town Hall” below).
Pointing out that labor is only a tiny part of the cost structure of major corporations, Grayson said, a Big Mac will increase by no more than 0.10 cents if the minimum wage did increase to $10.50 per hour.
“In the case of Walmart, because the cost of labor is barely 10 percent, they could give every employee – from top to bottom – a 30 percent raise and the company would still be profitable,” Grayson opined. “So they impoverish their employees to boost their profits, but in fact, labor is only a small part of what they have to pay and only a small part of what constitutes those profits.”
Grayson also discussed other bills he had introduced to help support workers rights – the ‘Worker Anti-Retaliation Act’ and the ‘Paid Vacation Act.’
Grayson said he is disturbed to see what Walmart has done locally to make victims out of people who exercise their right to free speech and was moved to introduce the ‘Worker Anti-Retaliation Act.’  Two former Walmart workers in Central Florida – Vanessa Ferreira and Lisa Lopez, both involved in a national campaign calling for better pay and working conditions, were later fired by Walmart – also addressed the Town hall meeting.
“When it comes to paid vacation, one in four American workers have to work every day until they die or retire which ever comes first,” said Grayson. “America is dead last among 21 industrial countries when it comes to mandatory paid vacation. That number is zero.”
Quoting from President Franklin Roosevelt, Grayson said, people “deserve a fair day’s pay” for a “fair day’s work.”
“Here we are 80 years later, fighting the same battle to do just that,” he said.
Grayson responded to a range of questions from audience members related to: Florida’s failure to expand Medicaid; the Affordable Care Act; the challenge to passing legislation in a sharply divided Congress; indexing of the minimum wage to corporations’ gross income; Orange County Commission Board’s “illegal maneuverings” to squash earned sick time; and Republican Rep. John Mica’s (7th District of Florida) push to privatize the TSA’s role at Orlando International Airport, among other questions.
See videos of “Workers’ Rights Town Hall” below:
