Two workers

It would appear that if Congress intended the minimum wage to insure a minimum standard of living then that has failed. The minimum wage still leaves a head of a household working full-time far below an adequate level of family income. In addition we are excluding health care expenses.

Some may inquire what the reason is. The simple answer is the rising prices. Wages have not counter balanced that rising cost of living. There is no clear sign of prices receding in the future so what is the solution? There is no alternate but to raise the wages.

Now many of the workers have resorted to a quick fix solution to being no more a single-earner heads of households, but rather so-called ‘secondary’ earners such as spouses and their children. In the 2010 census it was revealed that 72 percent of all wage workers were either children or spouses of household heads. This is wrong wages must be raised and they should be in lock step with the rising prices. It is true that the total family income is above the poverty line however when one looks at the individual income it is quite low. Thus we in the TWU Local 100 believe we are due a wage raise and cost of living adjustment in our new contract.