wfn.org | Faith, Community Groups and Senator Kennedy Focus on Living Wage

["NCC News" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE			
CONTACT: Leslie Tune, 202/544-2350 or Phil Jenks, 212/870-2252

Faith and Community Groups Joined By Senator Kennedy To Honor MLK's Birthday
With National Focus on 'Living Wage Days' Events

Washington, D.C., December 28, 2005--Faith and community groups will be
joined by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to honor the legacy of Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. during "Let Justice Roll Living Wage Days" worship
services, rallies and other events being planned for the weekend of his
birthday, January 14-16, 2006. Sponsored by the Let Justice Roll Living Wage
Campaign, "Living Wage Days" events are being organized to inspire, educate
and mobilize congregations and community organizations to support and act for
raising the minimum wage at the federal and state levels.

"Dr. King was fully committed to low wage working people and their families.
There is no better way to celebrate his birthday than to advocate for a raise
in the minimum wage so that, in the words of the prophet Amos, justice will
roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream," said
Rev. Dr. Paul Sherry, coordinator of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage
Campaign.

Senator Kennedy, who will participate in a "Living Wage Days" event at 2:30
p.m. on Monday, January 16 at the historic United First Parish Church
Unitarian in Quincy, Mass., has brought to a vote a measure to increase the
current federal minimum wage twice this year. Although the Fair Minimum Wage
Act was defeated, Senator Kennedy plans to continue pushing his colleagues in
Congress to give American workers a raise.

Speaking at a press conference on this issue on Dec. 14, Senator Kennedy
urged Congress to raise the minimum wage in the true spirit of Christmas. "In
this the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works for a living should
have to live in poverty. How can any of us in good conscience enjoy our own
high standard of living, when it is built on the backs of underpaid workers?
Fair wages are not just good policy - they are a moral obligation," he said
standing in the shadow of the Capitol Christmas tree.

In addition to the event in Quincy, Mass. on Jan. 16, numerous similar events
are being planned around the country that focus on the plight of low-wage
workers and the need to raise the minimum wage, something that was a real
concern for Dr. King. 
 
"There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an
adequate wage to every American [worker] whether he is a hospital worker,
laundry worker, maid, or day laborer," King said more than 35 years ago in
his book, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community." 

Recent data compiled by members of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign
shows this lack of social vision continues and is even more tragic.  Today
the real value of the minimum wage is more than $3.50 below what it was in
1968. Since the last increase in the minimum wage in 1997, the value has
eroded by more than 15 percent. To have the purchasing power it had in 1968,
the year that King was assassinated, the minimum wage would have to be $9.09
an hour today, not $5.15. 

According to Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of
Churches USA, one of the sponsors of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage
Campaign, "A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.
Full-time minimum wage workers earn $10,700 a year, which is about $5,000
below the poverty line for a family of three. This is a moral outrage," said
Edgar, who will also participate in the Quincy, Mass. event on Jan. 16. 

"In 1967, Dr. King called for 'the total, direct and immediate abolition of
poverty.' This cannot be done without increasing the minimum wage.
Unfortunately, the urgency of now was yesterday and we must make raising the
minimum wage a priority," he said.

The Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, which is comprised of more than 50
faith and community based organizations, is working on the national level as
well as in a number of states including Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, West
Virginia and Arkansas to support and advocate for minimum wage increases. 

Additional information about the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign can be
found online at www.letjusticeroll.org, including the availability of
multiple resources for ?Living Wage Days? events.

###

EDITOR'S NOTE: Participants in the Jan. 16 "Living Wage Days" event in
Quincy, Mass. will be available to the media for interviews. More detailed
information about this event and press availability is forthcoming. Media can
contact Leslie Tune at 202/544-2350, or Phil Jenks at 212/870-2252 with
questions or to set up interviews.