Low wage workers rally in Washington for a better income
A banner reflecting the views of Washington County nursing home workers at a rally at the Washington County Courthouse Tuesday calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage.
Jackie Rigatti of Washington demonstrates Tuesday outside the Washington County Courthouse at a rally demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage.
Nearly 50 nursing home and other low-wage workers joined a national protest by holding a rally Tuesday under the veranda of Washington County Courthouse calling for a better minimum wage.
The protesters chanted such phrases as “poverty wages are obscene” and “poverty wages got to go,” as 250 other similar rallies were staged across the United States in an effort to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“If you put in an honest day of work you shouldn’t have to live in poverty,” said Carol Dean, a nursing home worker in Washington.
Organizers of the rally claim the improved wages would alleviate the $118-million annual cost to taxpayers in Pennsylvania for nursing home workers who rely on public assistance in their homes.
They also called on heavily subsidized corporations to change the practices of paying executives large salaries while their other workers earn low wages.
“We’re hear to say it’s not OK,” Dean said.
“I want the next generation to be able to live on their own,” she said.
It’s estimated that 15,000 health care workers at nursing homes in Pennsylvania rely on public assistance,” said James Myers, an organizer of the rally.