Press Release - Brown, Schumer Call for a Fair Minimum Wage
Brown, Schumer Call for a Fair Minimum Wage
DeWine has voted against raising minimum wage at least nine times
CLEVELAND, OH -- U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was joined today by Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), State Senator C.J. Prentiss, members of the faith community, and low-wage workers to call on Ohioans to raise the minimum wage this November. During the past ten years Incumbent Republican Senator Mike DeWine has voted against raising the minimum wage at least nine times.
"As the cost of tuition, energy, and health care has skyrocketed for working families, Congressional Republicans have failed to raise the minimum wage," said Brown. "Senator DeWine voted to provide billions of dollars in subsidies to the oil and drug industry but voted against raising the minimum wage. In November, Ohioans will have the opportunity to elect new leadership that puts working families first and to raise the minimum wage to benefit more than 700,000 Ohioans."
As wages for working families have remained stagnant, executive compensation has skyrocketed and Congress has rewarded its own members but not American workers. A minimum wage worker in Ohio makes less than $11,000 a year. The CEOs of Halliburton and Exxon Mobil earned $8,300 and $17,000 per hour respectively last year. While it has failed to raise the minimum wage during the past ten years, the GOP Congress has passed six pay raises for its members.
"Minimum wage workers in Ohio barely earn in a year what today's CEOs reap in an hour," added Brown. "For the past decade, Senator DeWine and Congressional Republicans showered tax breaks and subsidies on corporations that earned record profits but have left working families behind. It's time for a new direction in Ohio where work pays a fair wage again."
An initiative will be on the ballot in Ohio this November that would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 per hour starting January 1, 2007. The minimum wage will increase every year if the cost of living rises.
http://sherrodbrown.com/press/releases/531/