<\/p>\n
July 19, 2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Media contact: National Consumers League \u2013 <\/span>Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242, or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202)\u00a0207-2832<\/span><\/p>\n Washington, DC\u2014<\/span>The National\u00a0<\/span>Consumers League (NCL),\u00a0<\/span>celebrating\u00a0<\/span>its\u00a0<\/span>120<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0Anniversary of fighting for minimum wage workers, and author of the first minimum wage bills in\u00a0America,\u00a0 praised\u00a0the\u00a0 actions of the US House of Representatives in the passage July 18, 2019\u00a0<\/span>Raise the Wage Act of 2019 (H.R. 582)<\/span>\u00a0by a 231 to 199 vote.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI just know that Florence Kelley is smiling upon us today,\u201d said Sally Greenberg, NCL\u2019s Executive Director. Kelley, NCL\u2019s pioneering champion for the League\u2019s first 33 years, wrote the nation\u2019s first of these bills in the early decades of the 20<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0Century. \u201cShe had many setbacks along the way,\u201d said Greenberg, \u201cincluding when DC\u2019s minimum wage law was found unconstitutional\u00a0<\/span>in 1918\u00a0<\/span>by the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But she persisted<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and today the minimum wage is recognized as both constitutional and necessary to protect the lowest<\/span>–<\/span>paid workers in America. NCL advocates for the $15 an hour minimum wage in today\u2019s legislation and supports a long overdue increase to a wage that is fair, livable, and conducive to a dignified quality of life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The bill would raise the minimum wage–stuck at $7.25 for nearly 10 years–to $15 an hour by 2025, helping lift millions out of poverty. In addition, Raise the Wage will\u00a0<\/span>decrease the wage gap<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>between minimum and median wage workers, as after 2025, the wage will continue to increase indexed to the median wage. Raise the Wage will also ensure fair wages for people with disabilities, who currently could make mere\u00a0<\/span>pennies an hour<\/span><\/a>. The current exemptions for disabled employees\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0\u201clegalized discrimination,\u201d NCL believes. Raise the Wage has the added potential to\u00a0<\/span>decrease unemployment and reduce poverty<\/span><\/a>, as shown by the University of California at Berkeley\u00a0<\/span>research<\/span>\u00a0examining the results of raising the minimum wage in the city of Berkeley.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n