For Labor Day, We Must Raise the Minimum Wage

Statement

Today is Labor Day, when we celebrate the American worker. Despite the setbacks and hardship of recent years, America remains a beacon of hope - a place where a person can work hard and truly aspire to a better life. American workers are the backbone of not just our economy, but also of our ingenuity and our promise.

Hard work - the kind that keeps a nation running and propels us forward even in our darkest hour - deserves respect. Labor deserves compensation worthy of its promise. American workers deserve to earn a wage that is in keeping with the value of the products they produce and their contribution to our economy. Americans workers deserve a raise.

That's why I support the Federal Minimum Wage Act, a bill in the United States Senate that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016. Sign your name to my petition calling on Congress and Republican Susan Collins to pass this bill as soon as it returns to session in September.

I grew up the daughter of a carpenter and a nurse. I know what it is to work hard, to play by the rules and to still struggle to make ends meet as a family. Work that is honorable and fair and worthy is, by it's nature, hard. But Americans shouldn't be putting in that kind of time and effort to their work only to be paid a fraction of what it is worth. That isn't fair, and it isn't American.

As costs have risen and inflation has grown, our earnings have not kept up, meaning they provide less real value today than they did in the past. As a result, people are tightening their belts and struggling to pay their bills. This needs to end. If Congress can successfully pass bill after bill that grants tax loopholes to large corporations and tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, then the very least we can do is pay our workers the wages they've rightfully earned.

So, will you join me in calling on Congress to pass a minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour? Add your name here if you believe that we should pay people a fair wage for the value of their honest labor.

Thank you for standing with me. I've always believed that Labor Day should be about more than barbecue and picnics. It's an opportunity for us to not only remember and celebrate our workers, but also fight for them and their families, ensuring that they are treated equally and paid fairly for their hard work.

Together, we can pass this minimum wage bill and give American workers the raise they deserve.

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