Protest for higher minimum wage

WINSTED — Several residents, including students, staff members and faculty of Northwestern Connecticut Community College (NCCC) joined on Wednesday, April 15, in a nationwide protest in support of a $15 national minimum wage.

According to published reports, the protests were held across the country in front of fast food and department stores, including McDonald’s, Walmart and Burger King. 

In Winsted, 10 people protested in front of the McDonald’s restaurant at 44 South Main St.

The protesters held signs that said “$15 is a fair living wage.”

According to the Department of Labor’s website at www.dol.gov the federal minimum wage, which was set in the Fair Labor Standards act in July 2009 is $7.25 an hour.

Several states, including New Hampshire, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, either have a minimum wage below the federal minimum or do not have a state minimum wage at all. 

In March 2014, the state’s General Assembly voted to raise the minimum wage from $8.70 an hour to $10.10 by January 2017. 

The wage is being raised in increments: $9.15 an hour on January 2015, $9.60 an hour on January 2016 and $10.10 an hour on January 2017.

One of the protesters who participated was Maureen Chalmers who is the leader of the professor’s union at NCCC and teaches deaf students in various developmental courses at the college.

“The minimum wage is not keeping up with the cost of living,” Chalmers said in an interview after the protest. “Even with a state as progressive as Connecticut it is not keeping up. We have $10.10 an hour, but even that income only brings a person up to poverty level.”

According to state guidelines and information available on www.ct.gov, a single person with no family making $11,670 or less a year is considered to be in poverty.

The poverty level for a person with a family of two is $15,730 or less, for a family of three the level is $19,790 or less and for a family of four is $23,850 or less. 

“At $15 an hour for a 40-hour work week, it brings a salary to $30,000 a year, which economists say is a living wage for most states,” Chalmers said. “So McDonald’s, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts and Walmart, all of these places, they will pay the lowest wages so employees will be eligible for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits and state health benefits. This is corporate welfare making it possible for businesses to not fulfill their obligations to their workers. Minimum wage should be a living wage.”

Another protester was Susan Dichter, an adjunct professor who also volunteers at the college’s mobile food bank.

“I work with students in order to help them be successful and I know what they are making with salaries and wages,” Dichter said in an interview after the protest.

Dichter is the program director for the college’s Team Success Scholars program, which helps students with its mentoring and working scholarship program.

“There are barriers the students have when it comes to completing college, including paying for tuition and transportation.” Dichter said. “This is a challenging thing when it comes to the minimum wage, and right now the wage is not enough. If the wage was higher, it would help to put more gas in cars and make it easier for students to buy books and help them get a college degree.”

Protester Charles Kelly is a professor at the college who teaches human services.

“There’s a growing gap between people who make a decent living and people who are struggling,” Kelly said in an interview after the protest. “It’s ironic that Dow Jones keeps setting records and the companies keep profiting while at the same time employees are really struggling.”

New Jersey native and NCCC student Marcus Johnson, who took part in the protest, said he has worked at his hometown McDonald’s for the past four years.

Johnson said he attends NCCC as a graphic design major because the colleges that are near him do not provide programs for the hard of hearing.

“I’ve been working at McDonald’s for the past four years and I’ve gone from $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour, with a 15 cent raise every six months,” Johnson said. “It’s hard for me to attend college because my parents have to pay an out-of-state tuition fee. I think it’s fair for everyone to get $15 an hour because it would help the economy.”