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Statewide Coalition To Hold “$15 for NC: A People’s Hearing” with 2020 Candidates

Jeremy Sprinkle
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MEDIA ADVISORY FOR: Thursday, February 13, 2020

Statewide Coalition To Hold “$15 for NC: A People’s Hearing” with 2020 Candidates 

North Carolina Workers, Small Business Owners, Clergy Declare Minimum Wage a Central Issue in 2020 State Election Cycle

Workers Testify about Daily Struggles of Surviving on $7.25 Minimum Wage 

RALEIGH, NCRaising Wages NC—a growing coalition of labor groups, advocates, business, and faith leaders seeking to raise the state minimum wage to $15/hr—will hold a public hearing on February 13th at 6pm in downtown Raleigh. 

Dozens of workers and allies from across the state will testify directly to candidates for Governor, Labor Commissioner, and the North Carolina General Assembly about what life is like for a working person in North Carolina and the importance of adopting a $15/hr minimum wage statewide for all workers. Testifiers will assert that a good job with fair wages is the right of all working people, including domestic workers, farmworkers, disabled workers and tipped workers, who have historically been denied the full protection of state and federal minimum wage laws. Elected officials and candidates will listen and briefly respond to testimonies. Participants will push candidates to publicly state their position on raising the state minimum wage.

“Minimum wage was intended to be a living wage,” said Sara Fearrington, a Durham Waffle House worker and member of the Fight for $15 and a Union. “But today, in North Carolina in 2020, $7.25 is nowhere near a living wage. $15/hr is the actual minimum wage that workers like me need to cover the bare necessities.” 

What:$15 for NC: A People’s Hearing; Dozens of workers and allies from across the state will give focused, passionate testimonies about the effects of a $7.25 minimum wage and advocate for a $15 minimum wage law covering all workers, including historically excluded workers

Who: Raising Wages NC; low wage workers, small business owners, clergy members, NC elected officials and candidates

When: Thursday, February 13th from 6-8pm

Where: First Baptist Church, 99 N. Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC

Contact:  Megan Williamson, 209-614-3791 / [email protected]; Julia Hawes, 919-863-2406 / [email protected]; Jeremy Sprinkle, 336-255-2711 / [email protected].

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Raising Wages NC is a diverse group of working people and unions, community organizations, faith leaders, businesses, and policy advocates joined in the common belief that all workers in NC deserve a living wage.