March 8, 2021
WHAT: The Poor People’s Campaign: A Call for Moral Revival holds a Moral Monday on International Women’s Day, highlighting the work of poor and low-income women on the frontlines of the fight for COVID relief that includes a $15/hour minimum wage for all workers.
WHO: Poor and low-income people from West Virginia, California, Florida, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, Michigan and other states, along with faith leaders and representatives of SEIU, CWA and UNITE HERE, will join the co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. Women and people of color are disproportionately impacted by the poverty wages allowed under our current minimum wage laws. Their work on the frontlines during the pandemic must be recognized with an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 ($2.13 for tipped workers) to $15, which will be their first raise in nine years.
WHEN: 3 p.m. ET / Noon PT Monday, March 8
WHERE: Online at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/livestream/
WHY: The current administration campaigned on a platform of $15/ and a union and must not back down now. Raising the minimum wage to $15/hour is merely a down payment on justice for essential workers who kept this country running in a pandemic. Even though the fight for $15 and unemployment insurance had setbacks this week, the fight is not over. We call on our elected leaders to stand with us as we continue to push for what we know is necessary and possible. The demand for $15/hour is among our 14 Policy Priorities to Heal the Nation: A Moral and Economic Agenda for the first 100 days. We also demand the Covid relief package include expanded unemployment benefits, health care for all and vaccine equity. We must move towards a guaranteed income for all and a federal jobs program that guarantees everyone employment with dignity and respect.
**This online event will be ASL interpreted and open captioned.
BACKGROUND: Nationally, more than 140 million poor and low-income people live in the United States, or 43% of the country’s population, and that was before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, with organizing committees in 45 states, is building a moral fusion movement to address the five interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism and a distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. Our demands are reflected in our Jubilee Platform.
For additional information: poorpeoplescampaign.org https://youtu.be/PmOjcUoDhEs
Twitter: @unitethepoor / Instagram: @poorpeoplescampaign / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ANewPPC
CONTACT: Martha Waggoner: [email protected] | 919-295-0802