Presidential hopeful and “democratic socialist” Sen. Bernie Sanders suggests raising the minimum wage to $15 in every jurisdiction throughout the United States. Many minimum wage workers, especially in the fast food industry, have protested recently for this salary increase. Last weekend, over 100 protestors stood outside the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. as part of the “Fight for $15” campaign.
The demonstration, organized by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, hoped to force the issue onto ballots in the District this November. If the initiative successfully makes the ballot, polls predict the motion is likely to pass.
Jenna Wheeler, a junior at Shenandoah University, worked in fast food for a $7.25 per hour minimum wage as a teenager. She remembers wanting to be paid more, but says, “I definitely did not see what work I was doing that would amount to $15 — that’s just overpaying.”
Wheeler, who is working for a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications, is hoping that her degree will open the door for a higher salary.
“Going to college should show how badly we want to be successful and to make something of ourselves in this world,” she says. “$15 is something for a more advanced job… It’s too much money to make working in fast food.”
There are many degree-requiring careers that currently pay less than the $15 proposed minimum wage. For instance, one needs a graduate degree to be a Marriage and Family Therapist, but according to Wall Street Insider, these psychologists can earn as low as $12.28 per hour.
“When you go to college and graduate with a degree, you should be earning more than $15 an hour,” Wheeler said, “because on top of all the regular bills [we]’re going to have to pay out in the real world, we also get slammed with loan payments we have to make.”
Additionally, many challenging and even risky careers have salaries far less than $15, including military servicemen, who start at less than $20,000 per year; police officers, who are reported to make a meager $12.50 per hour; and firefighters, at an even lower $11.08 on average.
Despite these facts, as well as the threat of unemployment, workers across the nation are still hoping for an increase in the minimum wage. Several states are currently debating whether to raise the minimum wage within the limits of some of their major cities. The Birmingham City Council is battling the Alabama state legislature to raise the minimum wage in the city from the federally mandated $7.25, up to $10.10. Similarly, the Oregon state legislature recently approved a bill to increase wages in various cities. The largest increase will be seen in Portland, which has plans to raise minimum wage to a whopping $14.95 by 2020.
