Minimum Wage Earners Get a Boost

300,000 Ohio workers are a little more happy with their jobs today. Their hourly wages have gone from $5.15 to $6.85 an hour today as the law that passed in this Novembers election take affect. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is planning events throughout the state in celebration of the passing of the bill. ACORN was a driving force behind the passing of the bill in Ohio and 3 other states. Here is a press release they issued on their website:

A McDonald’s restaurant manager in Columbus, Ohio, is employing his company’s slogan of “you deserve a break today,’’ by giving minimum wage employees a break at 10 a.m. Monday to step outside of the restaurant and join ACORN in celebrating the state’s increase in minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 an hour.

ACORN members will hold events in Arizona, Ohio, Colorado and Pennsylvania to celebrate as state minimum wage increases go into effect on Jan. 1, 2007. States ballot measures passed in November will put wage increases into effect, helping millions of workers.

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) led the charge to increase the minimum wage by ballot initiative in four states -- Arizona, Ohio, Missouri, and Colorado and through legislative campaigns in several other states.

“ACORN members are celebrating a day that means the start of a little better life for millions of our country’s hardest working families,” said ACORN President Maude Hurd. “Now Congress needs to finish the job by passing a national wage hike with no strings attached.”

In Arizona, Jan. 2 at 10:30 a.m. ACORN members will join Rep. Steve Gallardo (Dem.), low-wage workers and our partners in Arizona State Capital House Hearing Room 2 in Phoenix to celebrate the wage increase. Arizona’s minimum wage will increase from $5.15 to $6.75 an hour, affecting about 345,000 workers.

In Ohio, the minimum wage increases to $6.85, affecting about 720,000 workers. A press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. at McDonald's, Third and Grant Ave. A McDonald's worker earning mininum wage will share thoughts about the wage increase. A press conference also is scheduled at ACORN's office in Dayton.

In Colorado, the wage increases to $6.85, impacting about 135,000 workers. Jeffery Edwards, who earns minimum wage, will discuss what the raise means to him and his family.

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ACORN members will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Jan. 3, at the ACORN Office, 5907 Penn Ave., Suite 300 to celebrate our coalition's legislative victory to raise the minimum wage in our state. In Pennsylvania, wages will go up to $6.26 in January and then to $7.15 in July.

ACORN members are using this occasion to highlight the need for Congress to take action on a national wage hike as soon as they reconvene this week.

ACORN is pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage without any “poison pills,’’ such as special interest tax breaks, attached.

“Congress should not tie down the wage increase with any baggage. We need a clean wage bill without any string attached,’’ Hurd said.

Around the county ACORN is campaigning for national and state minimum wage increase laws with “indexing” to keep up with inflation as part of its broader Working Families Agenda, which includes paid sick leave, help with childcare, and earned income tax credits.

In 2006, ACORN worked with a wide range of partners to initiate and organize minimum wage ballot campaigns in four states and coordinated signature-gathering that qualified them for the ballot. More than 1.5 million workers in the four states stand to benefit from the wage increases, which include indexing to inflation.