Low-Wage Workers in Federal Facility Make a Powerful Statement with Help from Norton and other Members of Congress

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that with support of members of Congress, eight workers were rehired just hours after being fired yesterday for demonstrating, speaking out, and attending a hearing against federal complicity in low wages paid to employees by federal contractors in federal buildings and facilities. Many of the workers, employed by fast food and other retail contractors, attended a Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) hearing on Tuesday that included Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), CPC co-chairs Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MI) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and other members of the CPC, including Norton. Some of the workers are D.C. residents.

Staff of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) yesterday morning "walked back to work" in solidarity with the workers to the Ronald Reagan Building, while others walked back to Union Station and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The Union Station and Air and Space Museum workers went back to work without incident or retaliation from their employers, but eight Regan Building employees were fired. All eight were shortly thereafter rehired following a protest in the Regan Building cafeteria.

"These courageous workers took an enormous risk in standing up not only for themselves but for workers throughout the country in low-wage jobs with no benefits" said Norton. "By giving federal contracts to employers who do not pay a living wage, the federal government, the largest contractor in the world, acts as an agent for low wages. Ironically, federal contractors that pay low wages pass costs back to the government for health care, food stamps, and other benefits for the working poor."

In a letter to President Obama, now being circulated for signatures, members of the CPC offer recommendations to enable the federal government to use its contracting power to promote living wages, which would benefit low wage workers and taxpayers alike. The letter suggests the president establish a working group of federal agencies to consider recommendations offered in the letter, including an executive order and that a decent wage count among the points routinely used in competitions to determine recipients of federal contracts. The letter says that use of the federal contracting authority to promote the general welfare is not novel. For decades, for example, the federal government has monitored federal contractors to ensure that federal dollars do not fund discrimination.

The widespread selection by federal agencies of vendors and contractors that pay their employees low wages was documented in a recent Demos report, entitled Underwriting Bad Jobs: How our tax dollars are funding low-wage work and fuelling inequality, which was released at a CPC press conference and rally, where Ellison and Norton spoke alongside low-wage workers for federal contractors.

Published: May 23, 2013