Letter to Members of Congress Urging Minimum Wage Increase

OCTOBER 24, 2006

Dear Members of Congress:

We write to you on the eve of the 2006 elections, as leaders of eleven faith communities who have come together in Churches Uniting in Christ and pledged to combat racism together in our churches and in our society as the hallmark of this new relationship. We represent over 25 million communicants nationwide.

We are grateful that the 109th Congress renewed expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act, but we remain deeply concerned that Congress has failed to address the issue of the federal minimum wage. It is time to put this important matter of economic and racial justice in a prominent place in the national debate and to act upon it when Congress returns after the elections.

Through the millennia prophets have called for economic justice for all. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “There is nothing except shortsightedness to prevent us from guaranteeing an annual minimum – and livable – income for every American family.” Pope John Paul II stated, “In every case, a just wage is the concrete means of verifying the justice of the whole socioeconomic system.” Today we add our appeal to these voices.

There is a growing hidden underclass in the United States today. By keeping the minimum wage as a poverty wage, Congress compounds this reality that has major impact on all segments in our society. But poverty disproportionately affects people of color who, according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau, experience a higher rate of poverty in this country. Indeed, African Americans and Hispanics are nearly three times as likely to live under the poverty line, and nearly two times as likely to live under twice the official poverty.

The real value of the minimum wage today is nearly $4.00 less than it was in 1968. Minimum wage workers today have less buying power than minimum wage workers did in 1950. At the same time, Congress clearly recognizes the results of inflation when it gives itself raise after raise, most recently this summer.

Signed,

Bishop Philip R. Cousin,
Sr.Senior Bishop
African Methodist Episcopal Church

Bishop George W. Walker,
Sr.Senior Bishop
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

The Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ)

Bishop William Graves,
Sr.Senior Bishop
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate
Episcopal Church, USA

The Rev. Michael Livingston
President
International Community of Churches

The Rev. David Wickmann
President, Provincial Elders
Moravian Church Northern Province

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ

The Rev. Dr. Larry D. Pickens
General Secretary, Ecumenical Staff Officer
The United Methodist Church