April 30, 2014

UFCW President Hansen Statement on Senate Minimum Wage Vote

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following statement after the Senate failed to advance legislation raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and indexing it to inflation.

“Today a minority of Senators blocked millions of workers from getting a long overdue raise. It is the latest example of a Congress that is simply unable to meet the basic needs of the American people. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and tying it to inflation is a modest, common sense proposal that would lift millions of American families out of poverty. CEO pay has risen 725 percent over the last 30 years yet the real value of the minimum wage continues to decline. This is simply wrong. States and localities are refusing to sit by, with many raising their own minimum wage to levels higher than the federal rate. But all Americans deserve a living wage, no matter where they happen to live. For those who continue to deny workers a raise, the UFCW will remember in November.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.