Introduces Workers Impacted by Raising the Minimum Wage
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 30 - Democracitc Party nominee for governor Lucy Baxley held a rally in Birmingham today and vowed to lead the charge to help the tens of thousands of Alabamians who would benefit from a $1 an hour increase in the minimum wage.
 
“Working people deserve to earn a moral wage,” Baxley said .  “Governor Riley said he doesn’t know anyone still paying the minimum wage.  Well, here are some hard working people who need that $1 raise, and I’m going to make sure they get it.”
 
Baxley was joined shortly after the event by a number of workers who would feel the impact of an increase in the minimum wage, a group that Governor Bob Riley has apparently never met.

An August 6th story in the Cullman Times quoted Riley as saying, “I don’t know of anyone who is still paying minimum wage, even in the rural areas.”
 
“I will lead the charge to increase Alabama’s minimum wage because people who put in an honest day’s work should earn enough to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads,” Baxley said  “It is morally unacceptable that anyone working 40 hours a week still earns $5,000 less than the federal poverty line for a family of four.

“Study after study shows that raising the minimum wage helps low-income working families without negatively impacting employment, and we as leaders have a duty to fight for this increase,” she said.
 
Baxley has proposed raising Alabama’s minimum wage by $1 above the federal minimum to $6.15 by 2007.

Since 1997, 18 states and the District of Columbia have raised their minimum wage above the federal level, with seven more considering the issue on the ballot in November, and eight state legislatures considering the issue during 2006 sessions.  Only six states, including Alabama, have no state minimum wage law on the books.
 
In 2004, 562 economists, including four Nobel Laureates, signed a letter agreeing that “modest increases in state minimum wages in the range of $1 to $2 can significantly improve the lives of low-income workers and their families, without the adverse effects that critics have claimed.”

The 1999 Economic Report of the President expressed that “the weight of the evidence suggests that modest increases in the minimum wage have had very little or no effect on employment.”
 
Thirty-five percent of workers who receive a minimum wage are their families’ sole earners. Sixty-one percent are women, and almost one-third of those women are raising children.  More than 80 percent of minimum wage earners are over the age of 20, with half between the ages of 25 and 54 years-old.
 
Letter from 562 Economists (pdf)

Economic Report of the President

Notice Anything Missing in Today’s Katrina Coverage?

On August 29, 2005, Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and the world watched in horror as New Orleans levees failed, inundating and jeopardizing a great American city.

Since that time levees have been shorn up, but coastal Louisiana remains at risk. If you’ve tuned into any media today, you’ve most likely seen coverage of this terrible anniversary. Yet, one critical story has failed to recieve the attention it deserves, according to Aaron Viles, campaign director for the Gulf Restoration Network.

Wetlands have been destroyed by oil and gas exploration and development. Coastal forests have been clearcut. Marshes have been starved of critical sediment by the levees of the Mississippi River. Without the restoration of these natural defenses, levees will not hold up to another Katrina. Levees alone are not enough. Barrier islands, wetlands, coastal forests and marshes are necessary for a sustainable New Orleans.

Viles is asking for help in educating the public about this issue and urging members of Congress to get onboard the campaign.

To write a letter and support this effort, go to the group’s Web site.

On Wednesday, August 30, Lt Gov. and Democratic Party nominee for governor Lucy Baxley will hold a rally in Birmingham at the CWA Local 3902 Union Hall, 210 Summit Parkway, from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

She will introduce workers who will benefit from a $1.00 raise in the minimum wage, a proposal Gov. Riley scoffed at recently in an article for the Cullman Times, when he said, “I don’t know of anyone who is still paying minimum wage.”

Returning to the devastated Gulf Coast for a 13th time since Hurricane Katrina, George W. Bush was mourning again the destruction of Sen. Trent Lott’s “fantastic” house which overlooked the water. In doing so, Bush revealed that his deepest sympathies go to people of his privileged class, while he strains to project concern for average folk, especially the black ones.

For the full story of what Katrina exposed about Bush, go to the independent ConsortiumNews.Com.