Federal Contract Workers Strike, Demand Living Wages

Contract workers in federal buildings, including cooks and janitors, went on strike Wednesday to protest low wages, which force many of them to rely on food stamps to feed their families. Though President Obama, through executive order, raised the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10, many say it’s not enough. "I work as a cook in the Senate cafeteria and I don't make enough to give my kids a shot at the American Dream," said Bertrand Olotara (right) at a Capitol Hill rally Wednesday. Olotara says he makes $12 an hour and has taken a second job, working 70 hours a week, yet he has trouble paying rent, buying school supplies for his kids and putting food on the table. “I hate to admit it, but I have to use food stamps so that my kids don’t go to bed hungry,” he wrote in a powerful opinion piece published in The Guardian.
- adapted from a post on AFSCME’s blog; photo courtesy Good Jobs Nation

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