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Obama Calls for Minimum Wage Rise and Equal Pay as Elections Approach - New York Times

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Politics |Obama Calls for Minimum Wage Rise and Equal Pay as Elections Approach



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Politics |​​NYT Now






MILWAUKEE — President Obama on Monday renewed his call to raise the federal minimum wage and to protect the right to equal pay for women as the midterm elections come into sight.


In spite of opposition from Republicans, Mr. Obama said, addressing a crowd of about 6,000 people gathered in Milwaukee at a festival hosted by the local A.F.L.-C.I.O., his goal is to make sure all Americans can meet simple goals, like being able to pay their bills and send their children to school.


“There is no denying the simple truth: America deserves a raise,” he said.


Hailing examples set by employers like Kentucky State University, whose president took a pay cut to give raises to his lowest-paid workers, Mr. Obama said Congress needed to catch up to the businesses and other institutions — as well as 13 states and the District of Columbia — that have already acted to raise their minimum wage.


Mr. Obama also referred to his executive order in February requiring that federal contractors in 2015 increase their minimum hourly wage to $10.10 from $7.25.


Countering arguments that raising the minimum wage would reduce jobs, Mr. Obama said states that had not waited for the federal government to raise their wages had seen more job growth than those that had not raised their wages.


During his brief stop — he was in Milwaukee for about two hours — Mr. Obama expressed optimism about the nation’s economic recovery, emphasizing the progress made since the 2008 collapse, which happened about two weeks after he first spoke at this labor festival as a presidential candidate. He highlighted that nearly 10 million jobs have been added in the last four and a half years, and that the unemployment rate has been improving.


“By almost every measure, the American economy and American workers are better off than when I took office,” Mr. Obama said.


After a summer dominated by grim news at home and abroad, the president on Monday, the unofficial opening of the general election season, tried to refocus attention on an economic policy issue that could help his party. Democrats, wary of getting too close to Mr. Obama and his lackluster approval ratings, are fighting to keep control of the Senate in the midterm elections.


The president urged Americans not to listen to those who would have them believe that voting would not do them any good.


“Don’t buy it, because despite the cynics, America’s on the move,” he said. “It’s making progress.”


Accompanied by Thomas E. Perez, the labor secretary, and a handful of labor leaders that included Mary Kay Henry, the president of the Service Employees International Union, Mr. Obama praised American workers for banding together over the past century to achieve gains like the 40-hour workweek.


Wisconsin has been a battleground for labor unions in recent years. In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld a law limiting the collective bargaining rights of public workers, a measure that drew thousands to the State Capitol in protest in 2011.


On Monday, Gov. Scott Walker, the Republican who proposed the law, greeted Mr. Obama when he landed in Milwaukee.


Mr. Obama previewed his remarks in his weekly address on Saturday, saying that raising the minimum wage was “one of the best ways to give a boost to working families.”


“The bottom line is, America deserves a raise,” he said. “But until we’ve got a Congress that cares about raising working folks’ wages, it’s up to the rest of us to make it happen.”



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