The White House’s official position is that the minimum wage should be raised from its current level of $7.25 an hour to $12, but folks at the Labor Department have been promoting a much more ambitious figure: $15 an hour.
Labor Secretary Tom Perez has applauded the efforts to raise it to that level in speeches, often appearing at events hosted by activists and politicians. The Labor Department’s official blog has featured numerous postings promoting a $15 minimum.
None of Perez’s comments or the blog posts say that the federal minimum wage should be $15, but they all either applaud the efforts of those pushing for the wage to be that level or make the case for why it would be good for the economy.
On Monday, for example, the blog featured a guest post by Keith Mestrich, president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, announcing that it will pay all of its employees a minimum wage of $15 an hour.
“This immediate change sends a message that we believe in our people, and feel they deserve a living wage. It is my sincere hope that other banks will follow us by recognizing that when it comes to the minimum wage, doing the right thing is simply good business,” Mestrich said.
Unstated in the post is that Amalgamated Bank bills itself as the “largest majority-owned union bank in the United States.” Organized labor has long favored a higher minimum wage since it makes cheaper, non-union labor less economical for employers.
A department spokesperson could not be reached for comment on whether the department is going off-message or if its support for $15 an hour is being done with the administration’s blessing. Regardless, liberal activist groups are welcoming Labor’s effort.
“I think the White House is reflecting the growing consensus that seriously tackling our country’s income inequality crisis starts with working towards a big change in the minimum wage like $15 an hour. Like most Americans, the White House understands that no one working 40 hours a week deserves to live in poverty and so it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re supportive of a wide range of minimum wage increases that will start getting us there,” said Neil Sroka, spokesman for Democracy for America.
The department’s blog has featured several guest posts from other private business owners saying they supported a $15 minimum wage and touted reports of others doing the same.
A June post by Mary Beth Maxwell, the department’s principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, profiled a $15 minimum wage activist named Terrence Wise. Maxwell called him “one of an incredible group of leaders that are building their union and leading the fight for higher wages.”
In December, Molly Moon Neitzel, owner of Seattle-based Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream, did a guest post in which she defended her city’s $15 minimum wage. “I know this may cost me more in the short-term, with significant increases in payroll. But the investment will yield significant rewards for my workers, community and my business’ bottom line,” Neitzel said.
John Pepper, the co-founder of Boloco, a Seattle-based burrito chain, made the same argument in a post last August for the department. The post included a picture of Secretary Perez making guacamole at one of his restaurants and urged readers to discuss the issue on Twitter with the hashtag #RaiseTheWage, which is used by the $15 minimum wage movement.
Matt Patterson, executive director of conservative Center for Worker Freedom, said the $15 minimum wage movement is mostly driven by unions. “The Obama administration and the Democrat Party — dependent on the millions of dollars that unions funnel to progressive causes and candidates every election cycle — are clearly being wagged by that particularly rabid dog.”
A post by Perez himself from July 2014 highlighted other employers making the same basic argument.
The Labor secretary often turns up at events by higher minimum wage movement. In April, he was the guest of honor at a Seattle event hosted by Mayor Ed Murray to celebrate the first part of the city’s phase-in of its $15 minimum wage. “You are setting the trend for America!” Perez told a boisterous gathering, according to the Seattle-Post Intelligencer.
The month before that, Perez gave the keynote speech at a rally for D.C. home healthcare workers seeking a $15 minimum wage. “No one who works a full-time job should live in poverty,” he declared.
When New York Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order in September requiring employees of businesses receiving more than $1 million in subsidies from the city to be paid at least to $15, Perez issued a statement applauding him for “raising wages for thousands of New Yorkers who are working hard every day to make ends meet.”
UPDATE: Labor Department spokesman said Jesse Lawder said the administration supports the proposal by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., to raise the wage to $12 an hour by 2020. “With regards to guest posts featured on our blog, the department regularly lifts up stories of businesses around the country who continue to show that they can do well and do good, and we appreciate these businesses’ efforts to raise wages for their workers,” Lawder said.
