progressive christians can help raise the minimum wage

A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.

The U.S. House will vote on raising the minimum wage on January 10.
Be a part of this long-overdue step towards justice.
Be a voice for a new direction for Congress.
On Tuesday, January 9, tell the House to vote for a clean increase in the minimum wage.
Use this toll-free number: 1-800-459-1887

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on January 10 on a bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over two years. Help us generate thousands of calls in support. Do not allow special interests to load up a modest minimum wage increase with billions in unnecessary tax breaks.*

This is no time for silence! Call your Representative January 9:
Step 1: Call 1-800-459-1887, toll-free, to be connected to the U.S. Capital Switchboard.

Step 2: Ask to be connected to your Representative's office.

Step 3: Tell the staffer who answers the phone:

Hi, my name is _______________. I'm a constituent. Please tell Rep. _______ to vote for H.R. 2, the bill to increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. It's the most basic justice and long overdue. Please pass a clean bill, with no tax breaks for business and no changes that hurt worker rights. Will Rep. ___ vote in favor of H.R. 2?


*President Bush has already said he wants Congress to attach business tax breaks and regulatory "relief" to the minimum wage increase (see Washington Post, Bush Supports Democrats' Minimum Wage Hike Plan, December 21, 2006). Your call will tell Congress that enough is enough. Congress has ignored the needs of minimum wage workers for 10 years. Workers need a clean increase now.


Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign and the Coalition on Human Needs are urging all in their networks to call Congress and to forward this alert to everyone they know. The toll-free number is provided by the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization whose work for social justice, peace, and humanitarian service includes campaigns for a moral budget and a fair minimum wage (www.afsc.org/economic-justice/). AFSC welcomes groups to circulate and use the toll-free number to support specific policies that promote economic justice and human rights, and without linking the alert to a website soliciting donations or actions which may be used to support partisan lobbying or work.

The Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign (www.letjusticeroll.org) is a fast-growing nonpartisan coalition of more than 80 faith, community and labor organizations, as well as business people who know that a higher minimum wage is vital for workers, communities and our economy.

The Coalition on Human Needs (www.chn.org) is an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies which address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable populations. The Coalition's members include civil rights, religious, labor and professional organizations and those concerned with the well being of children, women, the elderly and people with disabilities.