AFL-CIO President John Sweeney Urges Senate to Pass a 'Clean' Minimum Wage Raise

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Jan. 22 urged Congress to pass a minimum wage raise with no strings attached for business and give workers "the clean $2.10 raise they justly deserve."

"Last year, Democratic Senators were successful in rejecting the Republican leadership’s cynical ploy to use the minimum-wage proposal as a vehicle to give tax cut pay offs to corporate special interests and the wealthiest Americans," he said in a statement. "Similar stunts must be stopped this time around. Today we are urging Senators to vote “yes” on a clean minimum wage bill in order to prevent even more business pay offs and anti-worker add-ons to what should be a straightforward piece of legislation. "
Sweeney said that in the last 10 years, the Republican-led Congress provided corporations with $276 billion in tax cuts and provided small businesses with another $36 billion in dedicated tax breaks.

He emphasized that Senate leaders must squash the business lobby’s myth about how raising the minimum wage will hurt small business and cost our nation jobs. On the contrary, Sweeney said, studies have shown that raising the minimum wage does not cost our nation jobs, but instead raises the wage floor for all workers.

Thirteen million workers and their families who urgently need this legislation are depending on them.

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