Where do the candidates stand on a living wage?

This is an important issue to millions of Americans who cannot afford to purchase candidates like fatcats on Wall Street and elsewhere. Unfortunately, we hear little about this issue. Not only does increasing the minimum wage help those who are earning it, it also has a ripple effect on workers whose pay is just above the minimum wage.

I know Edwards favors increasing the minimum wage to $9.50 (an increase of 31%). That is not a living wage but it comes close. That would essentially reverse four decades of an overall decline in the minimum wage's purchasing power and restore it to its peak level of the late 1960's (roughly $9 in 2004 dollars). The ripple effect of this would push many workers who are close to the minimum wage into living wage territory. All in all, Edwards plan is not perfect but it is far better than maintaining the status quo at $7.25.

Where do the other candidates stand? In particular I am curious about where Clinton and Obama stand on this issue.

She will want a big increase in the minimum wage and maybe all the way up to what Edwards is proposing.

Kucinich:

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We must make it a top priority to restore the value of the federal minimum wage, bringing it up to at least its 1968 level and indexing it to automatically keep pace with the cost of living. This will allow workers to quit their second or third jobs and spend more time with their families.

My goal is to combine this with the creation of a truly universal single-payer health care system, universal free preschool, free college tuition at state colleges and universities, a public jobs program to restore our infrastructure, and withdrawal from NAFTA and the WTO in favor of bilateral trade pacts that protect workers' rights here and abroad. This will transform the lives of working people, and without the efforts of working people who have made the living wage an issue, this would not be possible.

http://kucinich.us/issues/minimum_wage.php

Kucinich is rated 100% by the AFL-CIO.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Dennis_Kucinich_Jobs.htm

Richardson:

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Protect the Right to Collective Bargaining and Increase the Minimum Wage

We did these two things in New Mexico and our economy is stronger for it. People don't just want jobs, they want and deserve quality jobs. Collective bargaining helps ensure fair wages. And increasing the minimum wage was critical to helping those who are struggling to make a living.

http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/issues/page?id=0008

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Create a Living Wage

Barack Obama believes that people who work full time should not live in poverty. As president, Obama would raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing -- things so many people take for granted. Before the Democrats took back Congress, the minimum wage had not changed in 10 years. Even when it rises to $7.25 an hour by 2009, the minimum wage's real purchasing power will still be below what it was in 1968.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/

Clinton is rated 85% by the AFL-CIO.

Biden is rated 100% by the AFL-CIO.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Joe_Biden_Jobs.htm

Kucinich seems to essentially agree with Edwards. The others apparently do not give any specific figure for what they would like the minimum wage to be (Kucinich's reference to 1968 means he would raise it around $9.50, like Edwards).

Edwards has the poll numbers. DK has the stronger, more consistent record and more experience.

Personally, in the absence of Gore, I think they'd make a decent team.

DK has my support in the primary. I'm considering reevaluating my position on Edwards for the general election.

I'd like to be sure that his recent shift to the left on issues would hold in office.

I would like to see DK serve as US trade representative in an Edwards administration. :bounce:

Speaker of the House.

I think he could be effective in that position.

DK would make a great president, great Speaker, or great trade rep. Out of curiosity, has DK given any hints that he would like to run for Speaker someday?

His focus on and attitude about public service leads me to believe that he would serve if called.

And is there a link stating that Edwards supports a $9.50 minimum wage. What I saw on his campaing website said $7.50. Not saying that he doesn't support that, I'd just like to see a link.

http://www.johnedwards.com/about/issues/poverty/

Raise the Minimum Wage to at Least $7.50. For almost nine years, the federal minimum wage has stood at $5.15 an hour. Congressional pay has increased by more than $30,000 in that time. A full-time minimum-wage worker earns only about $900 a month and $10,700 a year. Today, Edwards proposed increasing the minimum wage to at least $7.50 an hour. The proposal would increase a full-time minimum-wage worker's pay by $4,800 and benefit more than 15 million minimum and near-minimum wage workers. A $1 increase in the minimum wage has been estimated to lift nearly 900,000 people out of poverty.

He also wants to tie the minimum wage to the national average wage. Presumably that means the minimum wage will be fixed as a percentage of the average wage.

==Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) says it shouldn’t take another 10 years to raise the federal minimum wage to help lift working families out of poverty. He says we should start now.

The presidential candidate calls for gradually increasing the federal wage floor to $9.50 an hour by 2012, with the added protection of automatic cost-of-living increases to prevent its value from eroding via inflation.


After a decade-long battle to raise the minimum wage, the new Democratic-controlled Congress overcame Republican stalling tactics and other roadblocks this spring to pass a wage hike. Starting July 24, the decade-old $5.15 an hour minimum wage begins a three-step climb to $7.25 an hour by 2009—with a first increase to $5.85 an hour.


Says Edwards:

Raising the minimum wage is one of the most important steps we can take to lift working families out of poverty and into the middle class. No one who works full-time should have to live in poverty. If a job takes you away from your family every single day—or for many low-wage workers all through the night—it had better pay you enough to support them. As president, I will raise the minimum wage and put our economy back on the side of working families.==

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/07/02/edwards-says-push-for-higher-minimum-wage-must-start-now/