On March 5, 2013, Representative George Miller (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Workforce Committee, and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013.

Close to 20 million people work in the food system in the United States, the largest private sector employer in the country. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, over six million workers in the food system earn the federal minimum wage. Due to low wages, the Food Chain Workers Alliance found that food workers use food stamps at 1.5 times the rate of the rest of the U.S. workforce and face food insecurity, or the inability to afford to eat as defined by the USDA, at 1.2 times the rate of all other workers. The Fair Minimum Wage Act would greatly benefit food system workers, who make up almost one-third of the over 20 million minimum-wage workers who would directly benefit from the legislation.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act is a historic shift from minimum wage increase legislation of the last two decades, since the federal minimum wage for workers who receive tips, like servers, bussers, and bartenders, has been frozen at $2.13 for more than 20 years. This bill would result in more than a 100% wage increase for them over three years. For those workers earning the minimum wage, the bill’s passage would result in a 33% wage increase over the same period. For these millions of working people who touch our food, the bill’s passage could provide these workers the means to support themselves and their families.

This proposal would go a long way towards restoring the minimum wage to its historic value; it would be more than $10.40 per hour today if it had kept pace with the rising cost of living over the past forty years.

The Harkin Miller Minimum Wage proposal would:

  • Raise the federal minimum wage over three years, bringing it to $10.10.
  • After the first three years, adjust the minimum wage each year to keep pace with the rising cost of living, as 10 states currently do.
  • And raise the minimum wage for tipped employees – which has been frozen at a meager $2.13 for more than 20 years – to 70% of the regular minimum wage.
Please sign our petition to Congress “Don’t Let Food Workers Go Hungry“!