[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 30, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S7924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONFERENCE OF MAYORS ENDORSE MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the United States Conference of Mayors 
recently gave its ringing endorsement to an increase in the minimum 
wage. On June 15, at their annual conference in New Orleans, the mayors 
unanimously adopted a resolution calling for such an increase.
  The resolution was sponsored by Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston, who 
is renowned for his leadership on behalf of working families in our 
city, and I commend Mayor Menino for this important and constructive 
initiation.
  Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Menino, the Conference of Mayors 
has highlighted the needs and concerns of America's workers. The 
adoption of the Mayors' resolution makes it all the more important for 
Congress to act, and to act this year.
  Mayors are on the front lines at the local level. They know the day-
to-day realities of the lives of working Americans. They have seen 
firsthand how the decrease in value of the minimum wage leaves workers 
unable to support their families. By next year, the real value of the 
minimum wage will have dropped by $2.50 an hour from its peak 30 years 
ago. For a generation, we have allowed the value of the minimum wage to 
decline unfairly at the expense of millions of hard working American 
men and women and their families.
  The unfortunate reality is that in 1999, large numbers of Americans 
work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, yet still can't support their 
families. Their wages don't enable them to put food on the table or a 
reasonable roof over their heads. A minimum wage worker earns $10,712 a 
year--$3,100 below the poverty line for a family of three.
  Every day, working families across the country are forced to turn to 
emergency food assistance to supplement their diets, and then to 
emergency shelters for a place to sleep. A 1998 U.S. Conference of 
Mayors survey found that 61% of people requesting emergency food 
assistance were families--parents and their children. The majority of 
cities also reported an increase in requests for emergency shelter by 
homeless parents with children. As the Mayors' survey emphasized, these 
are working Americans, yet they are not earning enough to make ends 
meet.
  The majority of minimum wage workers are adults struggling to achieve 
a decent standard of living. Instead of enabling workers to reach this 
goal that all families deserve, today's minimum wage tramples on that 
dream for a better life.
  Now is the time to raise the minimum wage. The country's economy is 
soaring to new heights and setting new records for growth and 
prosperity. The economy is the best in decades, and yet millions of 
America's hardest workers are not sharing in this prosperity. The Dow 
Jones Average is touching 11,000. The highest compensated CEO in 1998 
was paid $117 million. But minimum wage workers still can't lift their 
families out of poverty.
  Minimum wage workers deserve better. They serve our food, take care 
of our children, clean our office buildings, and perform countless 
other basic jobs. When hard working Americans put in a full day's work 
year round, they deserve a fair share of the nation's prosperity.
  Over 11 million workers would benefit from an increase in the minimum 
wage. They should not have to rely on food aid or shelters.
  Mayor Menino and mayors across America want action, Congress should 
heed their call to action and raise the minimum wage.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of Mayor Menino's resolution, 
adopted unanimously by the Conference of Mayors, be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the resolution was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                           Resolution No. 14

     (Submitted by the Honorable Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston)


              federal minimum hourly wage rate adjustment

       Whereas, the current federal minimum hourly wage rate is 
     inadequate to raise families out of poverty; and
       Whereas, the real value of the minimum wage continues to 
     fall short since its highest level in 1968; and
       Whereas, the purchasing power of the minimum wage continues 
     to fall short and fails to allow families to make ends meet; 
     and
       Whereas, millions of workers paid by the hour earn at or 
     below minimum wage and the majority of minimum wage workers 
     are adults; and
       Whereas, the poverty line for a family of four leaves many 
     minimum wage earners unable to survive and they are the sole 
     breadwinners for their households; and
       Whereas, the majority of the average share of household 
     income is earned by a minimum wage worker; and
       Whereas, the income disparities between the races have been 
     widening, not narrowing; and
       Whereas, the minimum wage is one factor in these wide 
     income disparities, as minorities work disproportionately in 
     minimum wage jobs; and
       Whereas, these minimum wage jobs often lack medical, sick 
     or vacation leave, other benefits and job security; and
       Whereas, these minimum wage jobs are a major factor in the 
     decision of millions of workers who would likely drop out of 
     the labor force because they see no future in such 
     employment, but there are no other alternatives to raise a 
     family; and
       Whereas, many citizens who cannot survive on minimum wage 
     seek alternatives outside the traditional job market that 
     may, at time, be destructive to them, their families, and the 
     total society; and
       Whereas, studies have shown that raising the minimum wage 
     does not result in job losses.
       Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the federal minimum 
     hourly wage rate should be increased to encourage 
     significantly greater labor force participation and enable 
     minimum wage job holders to support themselves and their 
     families at income levels above the nationally defined 
     poverty level.
       Projected Cost: Unknown.

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