WASHINGTON — On the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., dozens of faith leaders called for U.S. presidential candidates to include a “living wage” for low-income workers in their political agendas.
The move comes days after state officials of New York and California acted to increase their minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“Interfaith Call for Moral Action on the Economy” was publicly released April 4 and is focused especially on low-wage federal contract workers who cook for senators, clean the offices of generals and sell souvenirs to tourists at the Smithsonian’s 19 museums and the National Zoo.
In Alabama, minimum wage was raised to $10.10 an hour in Birmingham in February but was quickly taken away after a bill passed that bars cities and counties from raising minimum wage or requiring employers to provide leave or other benefits to their employees. The federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, will continue to be the norm in Alabama until other legislation passes to change it.
(RNS, TAB)
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