Luddly Neddite
Diamond Member
- Sep 14, 2011
- 63,947
- 9,980
- 2,040
Food workers, janitors walk out on U.S. Senate
Washington (CNN)About 40 contracted workers from the United States Senate walked off their jobs Wednesday morning and joined more than 1,000 labor activists at a rally calling on President Barack Obama and Congress to require federal contractors to pay their workers more.
The Senate workers -- employed at the upper chamber's cafeteria, on janitorial duty and in other food service jobs -- along with other federal contracted employees, are calling on the President to sign a "Model Employer Executive Order" that would give federal contracting preferences to companies that can pay their workers $15 an hour.
READ: Obama signs order on minimum wage
The Senate cafeteria, which keeps busy serving dishes likes it famous U.S. Senate bean soup on the Hill, is one of many federally contracted institutions in Washington.
Paco Fabian, a spokesperson for Good Jobs Nation -- one of the groups organizing the event -- confirmed that 600 of the workers were federally contracted employees, and that the Senate workers were galvanized by workers from the Capitol Visitors Center, who participated in a similar strike last November.
In February, Obama issued an executive order requiring that federally contracted employees are paid at last $10.10 an hour, but workers at the Capital, the Pentagon, the Smithsonian and other federal institutions say they are focused on earning a wage that allows them to have financial security and provide for their families.
Good for them. Its way past time people were paid a living wage.
Washington (CNN)About 40 contracted workers from the United States Senate walked off their jobs Wednesday morning and joined more than 1,000 labor activists at a rally calling on President Barack Obama and Congress to require federal contractors to pay their workers more.
The Senate workers -- employed at the upper chamber's cafeteria, on janitorial duty and in other food service jobs -- along with other federal contracted employees, are calling on the President to sign a "Model Employer Executive Order" that would give federal contracting preferences to companies that can pay their workers $15 an hour.
READ: Obama signs order on minimum wage
The Senate cafeteria, which keeps busy serving dishes likes it famous U.S. Senate bean soup on the Hill, is one of many federally contracted institutions in Washington.
Paco Fabian, a spokesperson for Good Jobs Nation -- one of the groups organizing the event -- confirmed that 600 of the workers were federally contracted employees, and that the Senate workers were galvanized by workers from the Capitol Visitors Center, who participated in a similar strike last November.
In February, Obama issued an executive order requiring that federally contracted employees are paid at last $10.10 an hour, but workers at the Capital, the Pentagon, the Smithsonian and other federal institutions say they are focused on earning a wage that allows them to have financial security and provide for their families.
Good for them. Its way past time people were paid a living wage.
