By Michael Sainato
The Guardian, Nov 23, 2020
It has been a long time coming but Hector Rivera is hopeful that one day soon he will be able to take a day off work. The 61-year-old works as a janitor in Miami, Florida, making just over $9 an hour. Because the pay is so low, Rivera works two janitorial jobs and scrambles to find gig jobs on the weekends in order to cover his rent and bills every month. ... On 3 November Rivera, and the millions of Americans fighting for a raise for low-wage workers, were given a boost when Florida passed a resolution to increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour. ...
The federal minimum wage, currently set at $7.25 an hour, has not been raised since 2009, the longest it has remained unchanged since a federal minimum wage was first enacted in 1938. ...
In the midst of a pandemic that has hit low-wage workers hardest, change could not be more needed, said Holly Sklar, chief executive officer of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, which supported the Florida amendment.
“Part of the purpose of minimum wage since it was first enacted in 1938 was to help us recover from the Great Depression,” said Sklar. “From a business point of view, a shared economic recovery is important. We believe you cannot build a shared economic recovery on a minimum wage that’s too low to live on.”
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