National Call-In For Minimum Wage Increase

 A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it. "Vote for a clean minimum wage increase now!"That's what every Senator should hear from his/her constituents.  On Wednesday, the Senate will vote on whether to end debate and bring up a simple, straightforward vote on raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour by 2009.  It will take 60 votes to end debate.  That's a tall order - but if thousands of constituents call, the Senate might do just what the House did with a strong bipartisan vote - support increasing the minimum wage without larding up with bill with billions on tax breaks, eroding labor standards, and/or bad ideas like the line item veto.  Call both your Senators now!  Step 1: Call 1-800-459-1887, toll-free, to be connected to the U.S. Capitol Switchboard.Step 2: Ask to be connected to your Senator's office. (If you're not sure of his or her name, click here:  http://www.senate.gov/ and find your Senators by state at the upper right.)Step 3: Tell the staffer who answers the phone: Hi, my name is _______________ and I'm a constituent. Please tell Senator. _______ to vote for H.R. 2, the bill to increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years, by voting to end debate. Please pass a clean bill, with no tax breaks for business, no changes that hurt worker rights, and no bad ideas like the line item veto. Will Senator ___ vote in favor of H.R. 2 now by ending debate?Then please follow steps 1-3 to call your other Senator.The American Friends Service Committee (www.afsc.org/economic-justice/), the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign (www.letjusticeroll.org), and the Coalition on Human Needs (www.chn.org) urge all in their networks to call Congress and to forward this alert. The toll-free number is provided by AFSC, a Quaker organization which welcomes groups to use the number to support work for fair wages and a moral budget and without linking it to language or websites supporting partisan purposes. Why your call is needed:  Senators are under lots of pressure to add costly, unnecessary, and/or downright dangerous provisions to the minimum wage.  In some cases, calls from constituents may be enough to dissuade Senators from voting for bad amendments.  And if your Senator(s) are strong votes for a clean minimum wage, they need to hear that the people of their state support them.We know how busy you are - but standing up for struggling working people is worth your time.Thanks!"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."                                                 -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.