Norcross on NJ $15 Minimum Wage Agreement
InsiderNJ.com
January 17, 2019
Today, U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross – a member of the House Education and Labor Committee and an electrician by trade – applauded the agreement by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Speaker Craig Coughlin to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour predictably over the next six years and issued the following statement:
“Governor Murphy, Senate President Sweeney and Speaker Coughlin joined me for their first public appearance together calling for $15 an hour minimum wage a little more than a year ago. Today, I’m glad to see they have announced an agreement that will help over a million workers and boost New Jersey’s economy.
“I was once a young single dad working for minimum wage and raising my son, having to balance work, family life and a checkbook. Back then, it was hard. Today, for far too many Americans, it’s nearly impossible. No American who works full-time should live in poverty.
“It’s been over 11 years since Congress even voted to raise the minimum wage and we must take action! My colleagues in Washington need to wake up, follow my home state’s lead and get to work to raise wages.
“Already, major South Jersey employers, like Cooper, Jefferson, Virtua and Amazon, are leading the way; they all announced they’ll be raising the wage to at least $15 an hour because they know the current floor is far too low. And business groups, employers and working families agree – America’s workers deserve a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.”
Norcross introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 with a bicameral group of colleagues, including the Democratic leadership team and Senator Bernie Sanders, yesterday. The Act was introduced with 188 House cosponsors. Click here to read the bill text, click here to read the section-by-section summary and click here to read the fact sheet.
Norcross was also an original sponsor of the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 and, in the New Jersey state legislature, Norcross was part of the successful fight to raise the minimum wage in New Jersey.