Jewish Community Must Join the Fight for $15 Minimum Wage

Jaq Basilis and Julie Dancis of Camp Galil and Habonim Dror calling for $15 minimum wage at rally in Rittenhouse Square.  Photo by Sophie Haeuber (April 2014).


— by Stuart Applebaum

Jewish law and tradition are clear about our duty to fight for the basic rights of all working people.

Shantel Walker makes $9 per hour at the Papa John’s restaurant in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood where she’s worked for the for the last 15 years, almost half her life. Because her wages are so low, she often has to choose between eating lunch or buying a Metrocard to get to work. She shares a one-bedroom apartment with family members, but still worries about making ends meet every month.

But Ms. Walker is not staying silent and letting her challenges get her down. She is standing up and joining with other fast-food workers across the country in calling for fairness and respect on the job. Since late 2012, fast-food workers have been walking off the job as part of regular one-day strikes and their ranks have recently been supported by home health care aides, adjunct professors, airport baggage handlers and other low-wage workers. Their demand? $15 per hour and a union.

The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is nothing close to a living wage. If someone earning the minimum wage is fortunate enough to be able to work full-time hours (and many are not), they would earn only $15,080 per year, which is under the poverty line for a family of two. At the current minimum wage, workers struggle paycheck-to-paycheck, and if they are able to pay all their bills at the end of the month, they are not able to save anything for an emergency, let alone for their retirement.

Rising wages will allow millions of people across the country to lift their heads up and look towards the future with hope. But it will also benefit our economy at-large. A $15 per hour minimum wage will inject billions of dollars into local economies as many are finally able to buy new clothing for their children and other basic necessities. It will also ease state budgets, as millions who currently rely on state assistance will finally be able to afford groceries and rent.

The history of American Jewry demands that we join with workers in their struggle for justice. When many of our ancestors first came to the United States, they worked low-wage jobs in the garment sector and other industries. Their experiences of struggle and pain encouraged many to organize and form unions that then fought for and won many of the basic wage and safety standards that we now take for granted. These gains enabled our families to raise their standards of living to where they are now, but we must never forget what it took to get here.

The good news is that workers’ voices are having an impact. Already, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle have passed ordinances to raise their minimum wages to $15. Even more cities and states have passed smaller minimum wage increases that are an important first step for improving workers’ lives. But our obligation is not over until every working person has the ability to support their family without undue burden.

At the very least, Jewish law and tradition means that we need to stand in solidarity with people such as Ms. Walker, who are taking a stand for the chance for a better life.

Stuart Appelbaum is President of the Jewish Labor Committee.



  1. says

    In New York State minimum wages can be reset on the basis of economic judgments, not the grueling political battle that applies in other states. A board of business, labor and public representatives review conditions in an industry and may recommend a change in the applicable minimum wage, subject to approval by the state labor commissioner. This week the New York board proposed increasing the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 in steps over a period of three to six years.

    As the author notes, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco have adopted $15 minimum wage laws, in some instances not limited to fast-food workers and including a cost of living adjustment going forward. The following discussion sets out a Jewish argument (if argument is really needed) for the $15 wage drive going on nationally.

    Pennsylvania law contains the same federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, with lower pay allowed for some categories of worker. Philadelphia requires a minimum wage of $12 but only for work on city contracts.

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