Senate Democrats called Monday for the Senate to pay all staff a living wage, responding to recent reports highlighting the homelessness of one cafeteria worker.
Eight Democrats, along with Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, wrote a letter to Senate Rules Committee chairman Roy Blunt, R-Mo., calling for the Senate to require an unspecified minimum wage for all contracted employees working for the Senate. The Rules Committee is responsible for administration in the Senate.
“[W]e urge you to provide a preference in the contracting process to contractors that provide a living wage, fair health care and other benefits, and that give employees a voice in their workplace,” the nine senators wrote. “Employees working full time on taxpayer-funded contracts should not have to rely on federal benefits like food assistance and medical care to provide for their families.”
The letter follows the publication of a column by the Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell last week that described the circumstances of Charles Gladden, a 63-year-old Senate cafeteria worker who is homeless and relies on government aid.
Under an executive order promulgated by President Obama, government contractors are required to pay an hourly minimum wage of $10.10, above the $7.25 federal minimum and the $9.50 minimum in Washington, D.C.
Gladden makes about $360 a week, according to the Washington Post, and gives support to children and grandchildren.
The senators did not specify what wage they would like to see Senate workers paid, but called for a requirement that contractors doing business with the Senate be “model employers.” A living wage is typically defined as the hourly rate that an employee must earn to provide for his or her family, assuming that the worker is the sole breadwinner and is working full time.
In addition to Sanders, the senators signing the letter were Richard Durbin of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Barbara Boxer of California, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Mark Warner of Virginia.
