Kansas City Janitor Joins Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in $15 Announcement for Federally Contracted Workers
KANSAS CITY - Today, Tila Garcia-Ramsey, an SEIU Local 1 janitor who cleans the Internal Revenue Service building in Kansas City, joined Labor Secretary Marty Walsh as the Biden Administration announced an executive order mandating at least a $15 minimum wage for up to 700,000 underpaid federal contractors.
“I came to the United States so I can better support my daughter. As a janitor the work we do is essential. But I was really struggling to get by on what we were paid,” Garcia-Ramsey said. “But now that we are going to get paid $15 an hour, I feel a huge wave of relief. This changes everything.”
“With today’s executive action, President Biden is listening to the demands of working people that employers must respect, protect and pay them,” SEIU Local 1 President Tom Balanoff said. “SEIU members and the worker leaders united in the Fight for $15 and a Union will continue to encourage President Biden and his administration to go even further by taking additional steps to support working families.”
The executive order comes as workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis with the Fight For $15 and a Union continue pushing Congress to pass a federal $15 minimum wage. More than 600 SEIU Local 1 janitors in Kansas City who clean downtown are preparing to bargain a new contract later this summer.
This executive order will:
Increase the hourly minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 by March 2022
Continue to index the minimum wage to an inflation measure so that every year after 2022 it will be automatically adjusted to reflect changes in the cost of living.
Eliminate the tipped minimum wage for federal contractors by 2024. Federal statute allows employers of tipped workers to pay a sub-minimum wage as long as their tips bring their wage up to the level of the minimum wage. This executive order ensures tipped employees working on federal contracts will earn the same minimum wage as other employees on federal contracts.
Ensure a $15 minimum wage for federal contract workers with disabilities.
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Service Employees International Union Local 1 unites 50,000 workers throughout the Midwest, including janitors, security officers, higher education faculty, food service workers and others. Local 1 is committed to improving the lives of its members and all working people by winning real economic justice and standing at the forefront of the fight for immigrant, racial and environmental justice.