EAST CHICAGO | Raising the minimum wage was the focus of a town hall meeting held last night at the main branch of the East Chicago Public Library.
The meeting was organized by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Illinois & Indiana and featured speakers from the fields of labor, faith, academics and the NAACP.
The crowd of about 15 people was encouraged to continue efforts to support an increase of the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and to hold elected representatives accountable if they do not work to do so.
“For too long, working families and working people in Indiana have suffered because of low minimum wage, and the goal is to get our legislators to pay attention to the cry from working people that the wage needs to be raised so that families can survive,” said James Muhammad, communications director for SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana.
Dennis McCafferty spoke on behalf of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor.
Prior to the meeting, he said he would like to see the minimum wage raised to at least $13 an hour.
He said doing so would provide people with disposable income they would reinvest into the economy.
Mark Lopez, chief of staff for U.S Rep. Peter Visclosky, spoke to the crowd and told how legislation in the previous Congress that would have raised the minimum wage to $10.10 over a period of two years, and then an amount based on inflation in following years, had 197 co-sponsors in the House but was not brought up for a vote on the floor.
He said similar legislation in the Senate had 33 co-sponsors but also did not come up for a vote.
Lopez said Visclosky will support any future legislation introduced along those lines.
“Nobody’s asking for a handout,” Lopez said. “People are asking for a living wage.”
Merrillville resident Clustus Harris worked for a local steel mill but is now retired.
He attended the meeting and said he thinks $15 an hour would not be too much to ask for based on the current cost of living.
“Unless you make a good wage, everybody in your family is gonna have to work,” Harris said.
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