President & IL Governor Support Raising Minimum Wage!

14 02 2013

President Obama, in his State of the Union address, expressed his support for raising the national minimum wage to $9 and Governor Quinn said in his State of the State speech that he supported raising the Illinois minimum wage to $10 an hour to “honor the productivity of our workers”!

This is very encouraging and shows that our hard work is paying off! The media is also starting to catch on that the evidence is behind us as well. As the Chicago Tribune recently reported:

“A now-famous case study published in 1994 by labor economists David Card and Alan Krueger began to change conventional wisdom. They compared employment trends in fast-food restaurants in New Jersey, which had just hiked its minimum wage, with trends in neighboring Pennsylvania, and found little impact on low-wage workers.

Berkeley’s Reich, along with two economists from the universities of Massachusetts Amherst and North Carolina, expanded on the research by examining restaurant employment in neighboring counties in different states with different minimum wage levels. They studied 16 years’ worth of data and found no negative effects on low-wage employment.

Instead, they found that higher wages reduced employee turnover, which saves business money.”

The Tribune also reported that, “Senate President John Cullerton and House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie quickly embraced a possible wage hike. Cullerton flatly predicted, ‘We’ll be able to pass a minimum wage bill.’”

Please send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and call your legislators to tell them why you support raising the minimum wage. They need to hear from Illinois workers and not just big business! Let your voice be heard. IMPORTANT: The bill number to raise the minimum wage has been changed to SENATE BILL 68 (It used to be SB 1565). When you talk about the bill to politicians of reporters, please use the updated bill number. Thank you!

Click below for recent news coverage:

Chicago Tribune, “Minimum wage hikes: Job killer or economic helper? Quinn rekindles debate”

New York Times, “Obama Pushes for Increase in Federal Minimum Wage”

The Guardian, “Denying minimum-wage workers a raise is craven and grotesque”

Huffington Post, “Obama: Minimum Wage Increase Will Boost ‘Rising, Thriving Middle Class’”


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Categories : Campaign Update, In The News, SB 68, Springfield

Veto Session: Time To Raise The Minimum Wage

27 11 2012

It’s veto session in Springfield, which means it is a crucial time to pass the bill to raise the minimum wage, Senate Bill 1565. Please call and email your Illinois Senator and Representative and tell them to pass a minimum wage increase during veto session!

Click here to send a petition letter directly to your State Senator and Representative.

Click here to find your legislators and their phone numbers by entering your address.

We have been told by politicians and business lobbyists for years that it is not the right time to increase the minimum wage, but we know that the working poor can’t wait any longer for a raise! The minimum wage is in Illinois is currently $8.25, which is not enough to live on. A hardworking American with a full-time job should not be in poverty!

It is unjust that CEOs of big businesses are making thousands of dollars an hour, but they refuse to pay their workers a decent wage. Right now, the minimum wage doesn’t mean “the minimum amount needed to live.” It means “the minimum amount that rich corporations can get away with paying.”

Below are links to recent articles & studies about why the minimum wage should be increased (feel free to send these to your legislators as well):

Huffington Post, “Minimum Wage, the Poverty Trap, and America’s Imperative” by Sanjay Sanghoee

A new report, “Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends” by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, highlights growing income inequality in each state (Illinois is in the top ten) and recommends raising the minimum wage

Crain’s Chicago, “Income gap widening fast in Illinois, new report says” by Greg Hinz

A new report, “Retail’s Hidden Potential: How Raising Wages Would Benefit Workers, the Industry and the Overall Economy” by Demos

Huffington Post, “Why Walmart and Big Retailers Should Pay Their Workers More” by Bob Herbert

New York Times, “The Twinkie Manifesto” by Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman

Click the images below for full-sized infographics:

Income Inequality in Illinois

Retail’s Hidden Potential


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Categories : Campaign Update, Do Something!, In The News

Raise Illinois Members Release Low-Wage Worker Report!

28 09 2012

Raise Illinois coalition members Women Employed and Action Now Institute recently released a report by Marc Doussard called, “Chicago’s Growing Low-Wage Workforce: A Profile of Falling Labor Market Fortunes”.

The report dispels the common myth that all low-wage workers (those making $12 an hour or less) are teenagers that just need disposable income. In fact, 94% of low-wage workers in 2011 were over 20 years old and 57.4 % were over the age of 30.

Annie Crawford, one of the low-wage workers profiled in the Sun-Times, is 56 years old, holds an associate degree in interior design, and has previously worked in that capacity making $50,000 a year. Now she cannot find a job in that field and makes $8.25 an hour at a quick service restaurant. (Photo: Al Podgorski)

Other findings from the report:

  • 31.2 percent of payroll employees ages 18-64 worked in low-wage jobs (paying $12 or less per hour) in 2011. This represents a substantial increase from the 23.8 percent of workers employed in low-wage jobs in 2001.
  • In 2001, fewer than 10 percent of low-wage job holders had a college degree. Today, more than 16 percent, or approximately 1 in 6, hold college degrees.
  • Increasingly, low-wage jobs play a crucial role in supporting households, rather than augmenting core income. More than half of the Chicago area’s low-wage workers (56.7 percent) live in households that get all of their income from low-wage jobs. This represents a substantial increase from the 45.7 percent of households fully reliant on low-wage jobs in 2001.
  • $12 per hour represents a modest and conservative measure of low-wage work. At this wage level, a full-time worker living by herself will barely be able to cover life’s basic costs without public assistance. When a worker earning $12 per hour is supporting family or other household members, public assistance programs will likely be indispensable to household subsistence.

Press coverage of the report:

Chicago Sun-Times, “Low-wage work force grows 30% as the number of jobs shrinks”

WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, “New study: Low-wage workers in Chicago are older, more educated”

Chicago Sun-Times, “Too often, hard work goes unrewarded”


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New Report: The Low Wage Recovery and Growing Inequality

6 09 2012

A new report was released by NELP (the National Employment Law Project) called, “The Low Wage Recovery and Growing Inequality.”

NELP found that, “during the recession (2008 Q1 to 2010 Q1), employment losses occurred throughout the economy, but were concentrated in mid-wage occupations.  By contrast, during the recovery (2010 Q1 to 2012 Q1), employment gains have been concentrated in lower-wage occupations, which grew 2.7 times as fast as mid-wage and higher-wage occupations.

Chart from NELP’s “The Low Wage Recovery” Report. Click image to see full size.

Specifically:

  • Lower-wage occupations constituted 21 percent of recession losses, but 58 percent of recovery growth.
  • Mid-wage occupations constituted 60 percent of recession losses, but only 22 percent of recovery growth.
  • Higher-wage occupations constituted 19 percent of recession job losses, and 20 percent of recovery growth.”

If the number of low-wage jobs are increasing while the number of middle class jobs are decreasing, American workers need a raise in the minimum wage now more than ever! If the minimum wage doesn’t increase soon, a majority of the workers in one of the richest nations in the world will be living in poverty.

Click here to send a letter directly to your Illinois State Senator and Representative urging them to pass Senate Bill 1565 to raise the minimum wage!

The was also good coverage of this report the New York Times, to read the article click here.


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Categories : Campaign Update, In The News, SB 68

Raise The Minimum Wage Day Of Action!

25 07 2012

The protest outside of the Chamber of Commerce office in Chicago!

On June 24th, hundreds of working people in Illinois gathered at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago to demand a raise in the minimum wage!

There were similar protests held in other areas of Illinois, like Springfield and Peoria, as well as in many other cities all over the country!

June 24th was a day of action where working Americans united to take back our economy and demand a living wage for a hard day of work! Click here to see photos from rallies all over the country.

Minimum wage rally in Springfield, Illinois!

In Chicago, we marched from the Thompson Center to the Aon Center, where the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is located. The Chamber of Commerce has consistently opposed raising the minimum wage and uses its lobbying power in Springfield to stop legislation that would help workers. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce only looks out for the interests of big business and the 1%, so we showed up demonstrate the power of the 99% and to call for them to end their fight against increasing the minimum wage.

Minimum Wage worker Denise Brown explains the difficulty of making ends meet on $8.25 an hour

Please sign one or all of the petitions below to to show our Illinois and national legislators that working Americans support raising the minimum wage!

As a result of the June 24th Day of Action, the fight to raise the minimum wage has burst onto the headlines of major national news outlets. See some of the press coverage below:

New York Times, “Planning a March, and Envisioning a Movement, to Unite Low-Wage Workers”

MSNBC, “Top economists: Time to raise the minimum wage”

U.S. News, “An Increase in the Minimum Wage Is Long Overdue”

Forbes, “Women Need a Raise in the Minimum Wage”

Reuters, “Three years after last increase, business group calls for U.S. minimum wage hike”

Huffington Post, “Raising the Minimum Wage is Cheap and Easy”

The Washington Post, “Low-wage workers plan NYC protest march next week; part of actions planned around US”

Think Progress, “STUDY: One In Four Private Sector Workers Earn Less Than $10 An Hour”

Daily Kos, “Big companies employ two in three low-wage workers”

Huffington Post, “Want a Real Recovery? Raise the Minimum Wage”


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Categories : About Us, Campaign Update, Do Something!, In The News, SB 68, Springfield

July 1 marks the second straight year that Illinois has not raised the state minimum wage!

29 06 2012

Kathleen Rubenstein of the Shriver Center (a member of Raise Illinois) wrote a great piece, “Illinois Misses Opportunity to Help Businesses and Working Families“ about the fact that minimum wage workers lose money every year that the minimum wage is not increased with inflation. July 1st will mark the second straight year that the minimum wage will not be increased, even though the economy is making it harder and harder for families to survive.

Aziza M. M. Nassar from Arise Chicago, another member organization of Raise Illinois, got a Letter to the Editor published in the Southwest News Herald. Click here to read, “Wants Landek To Back Rise in Minimum Wage.”

There have also been two new great research articles by the Center For American Progress that support the case for a higher minimum wage, “The Facts on Raising the Minimum Wage When Unemployment Is High” and “Women Are the Biggest Losers from Failure to Raise Minimum Wage”.

Please use these resources to inform others! Share them on your facebook, twitter or blog!


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Categories : Campaign Update, In The News, SB 68

Minimum Wage Voted Out of Senate Executive Committee!

17 05 2012

An increase in the Illinois Minimum Wage that has been championed by the Raise Illinois coalition advanced out of the Senate Executive Committee on May 16th, 2012!  The day after we had over 100 Raise Illinois members and minimum wage workers in Springfield lobbying for the bill to pass in a full Senate vote.

Please call, email and fax your State Senator today!
CLICK HERE to go to the District Locator to find out who your State Senator is and how to reach him/her.

We need as many people as possible to reach out to their Senators and voice a strong message for working families: Pass Senate Bill 1565 to raise the minimum wage in Illinois!

Once you have entered your address into the District Locator, click on the name of your State Senator and you will find their contact info. Calling their Springfield office is the most important, but you can call their District office as well.

Senator Kimberly Lightford, lead sponsor of SB 1565

Thanks to our sponsor, Senator Kimberly Lightford, and all the Democrats on the committee!  The bill, SB 1565, which would raise the minimum wage from $8.25/hour to over $10/hour in fifty cent per year increments by 2014, received the support of every Democrat and the opposition of every Republican.  If you want to reduce the extreme inequalities in our economy, you can help by taking action today.  Click here to find your Illinois legislators. We still need the bill to pass through the full Senate as well as the House of Representatives.

Minimum wage worker and grandmother Evalin Boblitt speaking about her struggle to raise the three grandchildren she takes care of on her own.

Below are links to some of the press coverage around the state.  The first one is an interview with a Springfield grandmother who is raising her three grandchildren on a minimum wage job as a dishwasher in a diner.

“Illinois Minimum Wage Bill Moves out of Committee” on CBS Channel 31 in Peoria

“Bill To Increase State Minimum Wage Moves Passes Out Of Committee” on WICS-TV

“IL Senate committee votes to send minimum-wage hike to the floor” in Illinois Statehouse News 

“Minimum Wage Bill Making Progress” on IllinoisHomepage.net

“Illinois legislature to consider increasing the minimum wage” in Daily American News

“State Senate Committee Approves Minimum Wage Hike” on CBS Chicago News  

“Illinois committee OKs higher minimum wage” in Peoria Journal Star

“Illinois Senate committee votes to send minimum-wage hike to the floor” on FOX Illinois

“Minimum wage proposal advances in Illinois” in Quad City Times

“Vote on $10 minimum wage goes to Ill. Senate floor” in The Southern Illinoisan

“Illinois Minimum Wage Could Be Raised Significantly” on WIBQ-FM Terre Haute Radio

 “Illinois Minimum Wage Bill Advances” in Progress Illinois

“Bill increasing Illinois’ minimum wage moves forward” in STLToday.com


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Categories : Campaign Update, Do Something!, In The News, My Life On Min Wage, SB 68, Springfield

Campaign To Raise The Minimum Wage Gaining Momentum!

10 04 2012

New media and online updates circulating about increasing the minimum wage:

1. A recent article in the New York Times highlights several different campaigns around the country that are working to raise the minimum wage, including our efforts in Illinois!

Dan Cantor, Executive Director of the New York State Working Families Party, was quoted as saying, “The Occupy movement put inequality on the radar. If we’re serious as a society about poverty and work and decency, the minimum wage needs to eventually become a living wage.”

2. There has been a popular graphic going viral that helps to illuminate just how impossible it is for a family to survive on minimum wage:

How Many Minimum Wage Hours Does It Take To Afford A Two-Bedroom Apartment In Your State?

In Illinois, a minimum wage earner must work 81 hours a week just to be able to afford a two bedroom apartment!

3. The Center for Economic Policy and Research released a new report on the minimum wage called, “Affording Health Care and Education on the Minimum Wage,” showing that it is nearly impossible for minimum wage workers to afford health insurance and college. As quoted in the report, “the current minimum wage looks even worse when compared to two kinds of purchases strongly associated with a middle-class standard of living or the ability to move up to the middle class: health insurance and a college degree.” The cost of these “middle-class” necessities under the current minimum wage is also compared with what the cost would have been under the minimum wage in 1980, which shows how sharply the minimum wage has decreased in value.

CEPR also released a new issue brief, which uses different benchmarks like Consumer Price Index, wages and productivity growth, to show that, “by any reasonable measure, there is a lot of room to increase the minimum wage above its current level.” When using productivity as a benchmark, the brief says that, “If the minimum wage had continued to move with average productivity after 1968, it would have reached $21.72 per hour in 2012 – a rate well above the average production worker wage. If minimum-wage workers received only half of the productivity gains over the period, the federal minimum would be $15.34. Even if the minimum wage only grew at one-fourth the rate of productivity, in 2012 it would be set at $12.25.“


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Raise Illinois Holds Press Conference At Capitol With Faith Leaders!

1 02 2012

Raise Illinois at the Capitol!

Faith leaders and members of the Raise Illinois coalition filled up a 68 passenger Amtrak train car to travel to Springfield on the morning of January 31st, to call on legislators to pass Senate Bill 1565, which is the bill to raise the minimum wage in Illinois.

Once in Springfield, Raise Illinois held a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda with 34 faith leaders, an economist, minimum wage workers and supporters, and legislators. Clergy unveiled a scroll of over 200 names of faith leaders that have signed on to the Raise Illinois petition to raise the minimum wage. Senator Kimberly Lightford, the lead sponsor of the bill,  spoke at the press conference as well as Reverend Norval Brown, Reverend Jackie Lynn, Reverend Bonnie Osei-Frimpong and economist Ron Baiman.

Rev. C.J. Hawking with sign from Capitol Rotunda event!

After the press conference, Raise Illinois broke up into groups and went to legislators’ offices to present a copy of the petition and speak to them about the importance of passing SB 1565 this year.

Raise Illinois also brought a copy of our Illinois Voter petition with over 1,000 signatures of voters that support raising the minimum wage. Those that signed the petition were invited to include comments. Christina E. from Hanover Park, Illinois said, “Raise It! It’s at a rate that makes it unlivable. Its ridiculous to think that a person making $8.25 can afford everyday cost of living items and their bills, plus paying off any debts and trying to get ahead on that small amount of pay. It’s just not reasonable! The economy will never be stimulated if we cannot even afford to live.”

Press Coverage:

Progress Illinois, “Faith Leaders Call On Springfield To Raise The Minimum Wage“

WICS ABC News, “Top Stories” (go to 2:20 minute mark of Top Stories video)

Chicago Now, “Minimum wage in Illinois would help economy, report says“

Huffington Post, “Raise Illinois: Why I’m Going To Springfield Tomorrow” by Reverend C.J. Hawking, Executive Director of Arise Chicago, a member of the Raise Illinois coalition

Video of our press conference and of Senator Kimberly Lightford speaking about why SB 1565 is so important and neccessary:


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Categories : About Us, Campaign Update, In The News, SB 68, Springfield

New Report: Minimum Wage Increase Would Help Working Families And State Economy!

1 02 2012

The Economic Policy Institute recently released a new report, “The Benefits Of Raising Illinois Minimum Wage,” which shows how increasing Illinois’ minimum wage would benefit both working families and the Illinois economy.

Graph from EPI Report showing minimum wage earnings relative to poverty levels and basic family needs (click to enlarge)

“Increasing the minimum wage would provide a much-needed raise to many Illinois workers and would generate economic activity and new jobs to a sluggish economy,” said Mary Gable who co-authored the report. “In fact, it is one of the few budget-neutral strategies available to state governments that would actually provide a job boost in the coming years.”

Ron Baiman, Director of Budget and Policy Analysis at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountabiliy, stated, “Unlike the recently passed bills giving hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate tax breaks that the state cannot afford, this bill is  guaranteed to increase jobs in Illinois because it would increase economic activity from the demand side. It would not cost the state a penny, and it would provide a much needed boost to the incomes of families at the very bottom end of the wage scale who most need help during these times of continued real wage decline, unabated expansion in inequality, and persistently high and long term unemployment.“

Read the full report here.



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