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Hundreds
Rally In
The
Support
Of
Minimum
Wage
Increase
Michigan
residents
and Good
Jobs Now
say
$7.25
won’t
support
a family
SOUTHGATE,
MI –
Several
hundred
people
rallied
for more
than 90
minutes
on
Tuesday,
July 24,
2012, at
companies
in
Southgate,
Michigan,
to
support
efforts
to raise
the
minimum
wage
paid to
workers.
Using
widely
known
retail
and food
outlets
such as
Michael’s,
Toys R
Us,
Dunkin
Donuts
and
Outback
Steak
House to
make the
point,
protesters
staked
out the
stores
on
Eureka
Road and
chanted,
“We need
a
raise!”
and
“Bain
makes
millions,
but I’m
paid no
dough.”
The
rallies
were
aimed
particularly
at
companies
tied to
Bain
Capital,
a
company
that has
notoriously
laid off
workers,
paid low
wages
and
shipped
jobs
overseas.
“Stop
outsourcing
jobs!”
said
Manila
Freeman,
60, a
retired
Detroit
Public
Schools
teacher
turned
community
activist.
“If Bain
didn’t
outsource,
we would
have
jobs for
the
99%.”
The
protest,
organized
by Good
Jobs Now
in
Detroit,
was
designed
to point
out that
the
federal
minimum
wage has
not kept
up with
inflation,
but CEO
pay has
risen
725%
over the
last 30
years.
If the
federal
minimum
wage had
kept up
with
inflation
over the
past 40
years,
it would
be
$10.55
an hour.
Legislation
proposed
at both
the
state
and
federal
level
would
increase
wages to
between
$10 and
$10.40
an hour.
The
Economic
Policy
Institute
estimates
that a
current
federal
proposal
to
increase
the
minimum
wage
would
generate
more
than $25
billion
in
consumer
spending
and
create
over
100,000
jobs as
businesses
ramped
up their
workforces
to
respond
to
increased
demand.
“I came
to speak
against
Bain
jobs
outsourcing
overseas,
and for
them to
increase
the
minimum
wage to
$10.25,”
said
Pastor
W.J.
Rideout
of All
God’s
People
Church
in
Detroit.
“People
cannot
live on
$7.25 an
hour.”
ABOUT
GOOD
JOBS NOW
Good
Jobs Now
is a
broad
coalition
of
community
groups,
faith
leaders,
concerned
citizens
and the
labor
sector
that is
committed
to
solving
the
issues
facing
our
neighborhoods
and
holding
decision
makers
and
elected
officials
accountable
for
creating
jobs.
www.goodjobsnow.org
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