President Obama used his pen and phone to raise the minimum wage for new federal contractors, but a federal workers’ union isn’t satisfied.
They ask: Why must the minimum wage hike be limited to new contractors?
“It was shameful that so many in the President’s own workforce are forced to work for less than $10.10 — an amount President Obama has described as a minimum living wage — while contractors will be guaranteed at least that amount,” states a Thursday press release by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
The solution by the AFGE was a “proposal to extend to federal hourly workers the same $10.10/hour minimum wage that President Obama has provided for new federal contractors.”
“Although a large majority of both blue and white collar federal employees already make more than this amount, there are some GS and FWS workers who make as little as $8-$9 per hour” the press release goes onto say.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the director of Economics21 and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the president’s move was“just symbolic.”
“Very little practical effect,” Furchtgott-Roth explains. “If he applied it to all federal employees it would have just been more effective.”
But also more expensive.
“The point is that Obama is just raising the deficit, by raising the cost of government projects,” Furchtgott-Roth argues.
She adds, “Glad he only applied it to new projects” since it would be “a lot more expensive” otherwise.
According to a fact sheet by the White House, “This action will cover workers who are performing services or construction and are getting paid less than $10.10 an hour. Some examples of the hardworking people who would benefit from an EO include military base workers who wash dishes, serve food and do laundry.”
