Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren Want Obama to Join the ‘Fight for $15’ to Raise Minimum Wage

The effort to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour is gaining momentum, and two of American progressives’ biggest allies are doing what they can to get the executive branch behind the movement.

From The Huffington Post:

In a letter to the White House led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday, 18 senators, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), asked Obama to issue a “model employer” executive order, which would give contracting preference to firms that pay a living wage, offer health care and sick leave, and guarantee union rights for workers.

“Mr. President, the stroke of your pen can have transformative impact for millions of workers,” the letter states. “As low-wage fast food, retail and federal contract workers continue to strike in growing numbers to ‘Fight for $15 and a Union,’ we urge you to harness the power of the presidency to help these workers achieve the American Dream.”

The letter notes that the president has held up for-profit companies like Costco as high-road employers, so the federal government itself should “invest our taxpayer dollars to incentivize model employers that commit to creating good jobs and to rebuilding America’s ailing middle class.”

Obama has already issued executive orders that he says will improve pay and working conditions for workers employed under federal contracts. That includes an order that sets a $10.10 minimum wage for such workers, and another order that bars firms proven to have committed wage theft from getting new contracts.

Read more.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata