U.S.
Church calls on Congress to ensure fair minimum wage
(Vatican
Radio) U.S. Catholic leaders have called on Congress to ensure that the federal
minimum wage is raised to “improve the financial security of millions of
American families”. In a letter, dated July 28th, Bishop Thomas Wenski,
chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and
Sr Donna Markham, President of Catholic Charities USA, note that a full-time
worker, currently earning the federal minimum wage, “does not make enough to
raise a child free from poverty”.
As
pastors and service providers, they say they see how each year “it becomes more
difficult for low-wage workers to make ends meet”. Quoting from Pope John
Paul II’s encyclical Centesimus Annus, they stress that society and
the State must guarantee wage levels “adequate for the maintenance of the
worker and his family”, as well as ensuring “adequate legislative measures” to
stop exploitation of the most vulnerable. Protecting low-wage workers and
promoting their ability to form and nurture families, the two Catholic leaders
insist, are shared responsibilities and critical to building a more equitable
society
Please
find below the full text of the letter from Sr Donna Markham and Bishop Thomas
Wenski
July
28, 2015
Dear
Representative/Senator:
On
behalf of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA, we write to
lift up the struggles of low-wage workers and their families. We urge you to
advance legislation and policies that would ensure fair and just wages for all
workers, and in doing so improve the financial security of millions of American
families.
An
economy thrives only when it is centered on the dignity and well-being of the
workers and families in it. As pastors and service providers, we see every day
the consequences when society fails to honor this priority. A full-year,
full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage does not make enough to raise
a child free from poverty. Because the federal minimum wage is a static number
and does not change, each year it becomes more difficult for low-wage workers
to make ends meet. This leads to increased demand for Charities’ services and
reliance on the social safety net to make ends meet. Indeed, recent research
suggests that about three-fourths (73 percent) of those who receive public
benefits come from working families, meaning they or a family member is
employed.
Saint
John Paul II pointed out, “society and the State must ensure wage levels
adequate for the maintenance of the worker and his family, including a certain
amount for savings. This requires a continuous effort to improve workers'
training and capability so that their work will be more skilled and productive,
as well as careful controls and adequate legislative measures to block shameful
forms of exploitation, especially to the disadvantage of the most vulnerable
workers. . . (Centesimus Annus, no. 15).
Protecting
low-wage workers and promoting their ability to form and nurture families are
shared responsibilities and critical to building a more equitable society. One
way Congress can contribute to this shared work of promoting the common good is
by ensuring the federal minimum wage promotes family formation and stability.
Sincerely,
Most
Reverend Thomas G. Wenski
Chairman
of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development
Sister
Donna Markham, OP, Ph.D.
President
of Catholic Charities USA
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