Federal contract workers at the Capitol, Smithsonian, Pentagon, and other buildings are striking today; the workers, organized by a group called Good Jobs Nation, are seeking higher pay (they’d like wages to start at $15 an hour rather than the current $10.10) and hope to form a union. “The one-day strike is the 10th by federal contract workers spearheaded by Good Jobs Nation since May 2013,” Reuters reports, writing that “several hundred” individuals are expected to participate.
A report released last year by the progressive think tank Demos estimated that 560,000 private-sector employees contracted to work for the federal government make less than $12 an hour, a rate that works out to less than $25,000 a year. The national minimum wage is currently $7.25, and Obama has proposed raising it to $10.10. Many states have minimum wage laws more demanding than the federal government’s; click here to see the rates by state. Washington’s, at $9.32, is highest.
