Norton to Speak at Rally Where Low-Wage Senate Contract Workers Are Striking for a Living Wage, Today

Press Release

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will join U.S. Senate contract janitor and food service workers, who are striking for the first time ever, at a rally today, April 22, at 10:00 a.m. outside the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Norton will call on President Obama to sign an executive order to give preference to federal contractors that pay their employees a livable wage of at least $15 an hour and to give federal contract workers the right to collectively bargain. The rally will bring together hundreds of federal contract workers from the U.S. Capitol, Senate, Pentagon, Smithsonian, U.S. Department of Education, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with Members of Congress and representatives from Good Jobs Nation, an organization dedicated to procuring livable wages for federal contract workers.

Norton has been a congressional leader in the fight for improved wages for workers employed by federal contractors. Last Congress she sponsored the ROSIE Act, which incentivizes federal government contractors to support workers' collective bargaining, pay living wages and benefits, stop wage theft, and avoid paying CEOs excessive salaries.

"A livable wage and the right of workers to organize ought to be no-brainers," Norton said. "We know that federal contract workers, like those in the Senate, appreciate President Obama's action that raised the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10, especially since Congress has not even done that. Yet, everyone knows that $10.10 is so minimal that it is not a livable wage. The President's leadership encouraged many private employers throughout the country to raise their wages. Leading by example again and raising federal contract workers' wages to $15 an hour would be a perfect signal for private companies to follow suit."

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