Bonnie Watson Coleman: “Today, low-wage workers across the country rallied in small towns and big cities. Their request is very simple: a…”

“Today, low-wage workers across the country rallied in small towns and big cities. Their request is very simple: a livable wage and the right to organize. This isn't rocket science. These folks turn on the news and see reports on stock market gains on Wall Street. They see companies reporting record profits. They see the prices for bread and a carton of milk rising every month. Then they open their paychecks and see the same amount that they have seen for the past 10 years. This is a crisis that my colleagues across the aisle keep trying to brush under a political rug. That may have worked in the past, but it is just getting too big to be hidden. According to UC Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez, the Nation's 100 richest families have as much wealth as the 80 million families that make up the bottom 50 percent in wealth. Meanwhile, Republicans keep trying to peddle the same, tired ``work hard and get ahead'' rhetoric. Madam Speaker, American workers are doing just that. They are stringing together 40-hour weeks whenever they can. In many cases, they are not given the opportunity to even do that, but they are being paid wages that cobble together to just over $15,000 a year. Even when McDonald's raises wages for the fraction of its workers behind the counters of their corporate stores, they will only get a raise of $5,000. $5,000 will make a huge difference for those families, but at $20,000, they have gone from drowning to just barely keeping their heads above water.…”