Pictured are U.S. President Barack Obama (in grey suit), 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D--11) (in blue suit), a Warrensville Heights Democrat who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-8) (in dotted pink tie), a Republican who represents Ohio's eighth congressional district, and Belinda Prinz (in purple suit), the communications director for Fudge's district office in Warrensville Heights, Ohio
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) /(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio- 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-11), a Warrensville Heights Democrat who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, told reporters earlier this week that Congress should up the minimum wage floor, which is currently $7.25 an hour, to $10.10 an hour, and that it is the right thing to do both morally and economically.
"The vast majority of minimum wage workers are not teenagers earning spending money and as costs for food, rent, gas and other necessities go up these hardworking, often college educated workers are struggling to keep up," Fudge told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper, after a press conference Monday at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland.
The congresswoman's largely Black 11th congressional district includes the majority Black cities of Cleveland, East Cleveland and Warrensville Heights, where she was formerly mayor, and Cleveland's eastern suburbs. After a population-based, state legislative congressional redistricting map that saw Ohio go from 18 to 16 congressional districts took effect last year, she gained a largely Black pocket of Akron, a city 30 miles south of Cleveland, and staggering parts of Akron's Summit County suburbs.
"The average age of a minimum wage worker is 35 and they include older adults and parents trying to support their families," said Fudge.
Also at the press conference were Bishop Tony Minor of the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry, who is also executive director of the United Pastor's in Mission of greater Cleveland, Denise Gastesi of Progress Ohio, and Nick Gurich on behalf of SEIU 1199, a union representing service employees of greater Cleveland.
Ohio's minimum wage is $7.95 an hour compared to the national mandate of $7.25, only pennies more on the dollar than the national minimum wage floor requirement.
States can up the minimum wage but cannot go lower than what Congress sets. And President Obama, a Democrat, has used his limited executive powers to increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour for federal contractors.
But even the president cannot side step Congress for a countrywide minimum raise increase with law makers having sole authority to adopt a federal law to increase the minimum wage threshold.
Roughly 14.5 percent of U.S. households struggle to put food on the table, including some 16.9 million children, according to Bread.org.
That figure is nearly three times higher for Blacks and Hispanic Americans.
Ohio's overall poverty rate meets the national average, U.S. census reports reveal, though the percentage for Blacks statewide is alarmingly higher at 40 percent, and this is in spite of an overall Black population in Ohio at 13 percent.
Belinda Prinz, Fudge's communications director at her district office in Warrensville, told Cleveland Urban News.Com during an interview on Thursday that a bill that would increase the minimum wage is gathering dust on the desk of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-8) and that the house speaker refuses to even schedule the proposed federal legislation for committee discussions.
A Republican, Boehner represents Ohio's eighth congressional district, which includes the city of Dayton.
Prinz said that Congress should take the lead on the controversial measure and agreed with her boss that to do nothing is unethical at best.
"It's the morally just thing to do for a nation of our scope and wealth," said Prinz. "All Americans deserve the opportunity to earn a living wage."
Boehner and House Republicans argue that increasing the minimum wage will cost jobs and puts a burden on small businesses. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) /(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
