Cooking up a Thanksgiving dinner on the minimum wage

Illustrating a sad reality for too many hardworking North Carolinians

The Fair Minimum Wage Act, which will raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $10.10/hour, is expected to reach the floor of the US Senate next week.

Today, Raleigh area advocates including Action NC and Progress North Carolina gathered around a table at the state AFL-CIO headquarters to call on Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan to support the bill, by highlighting what Thanksgiving dinner looks like to minimum wage earners. It was the sorriest looking Thanksgiving meal that you've ever seen.

See photos from A Minimum Wage Thanksgiving in Raleigh.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average cost of a Thanksgiving Day meal is $49.04. If a minimum wage earner spends the same percentage of their annual income as the average household, they would have only $14.50 for Thanksgiving dinner.

Take a look at the Fact Sheet: A Minimum Wage Thanksgiving

An actual turkey didn't fit our budget

Representatives of OUR Walmart and NC Raise Up – Walmart and Fast Food workers who are struggling with wages close to the minimum wage attended. Walmart and many fast food restaurants will be forcing their workers to come in on Thanksgiving. While the rest of us take Thanksgiving for granted, millions of Americans are struggling just to get by. The Fair Minimum Wage Act is the least we can do to raise up hard-working Americans during this holiday season.