Truthout
Minimum Wage
![Firefighters turn to shield themselves from the ember wash as they battle the Bond Fire on December 3, 2020, in Silverado, California.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2018/05/2021_0630-firefighters-400x300.jpg)
Biden’s Plan to Address Wildfire Season Includes Pay Increases for Firefighters
More wildfires were detected this past month than in any other June over the past decade.
![A masked woman holds both her grandbaby and a sign demanding higher wages during a protest](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/05/2021_0524-worker-400x300.jpg)
Restaurant Workers Say They Won’t Return to Work Without a Living Wage
Food service workers have called a national wage strike this week to draw attention to the industry’s poverty wages.
![The sign at the McDonald's restaurant on Penn Ave in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, on April 8, 2021, with a message on a board below it that reads "Work Here $15 And Free Meals."](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2018/05/2021_0513-mcdonalds-15-400x300.jpg)
McDonald’s “Wage Increase” Won’t Affect 95 Percent of Its Franchise Employees
The company is bragging about small wage raises at only 5 percent of its locations ahead of a planned strike next week.
![Sen. Bernie Sanders talks with reporters as he makes his way to the Senate floor for a vote in Washington on Wednesday, April 28, 2021.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232578253-400x300.jpg)
Progressives to Corporations: If You Want to Keep Workers, Pay Living Wages
Corporations fault unemployment benefits for labor shortages, but critics argue “starvation wages” are to blame.
![Waiters, waitresses and other hospitality workers that rely on tips for income take part in a rally at the Massachusetts State House in Boston to convince lawmakers to raise the $3.75 minimum wage for restaurant workers on June 12, 2018.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/05/2021_0505-restuaurant-workers-protest-for-higher-wages-400x300.jpg)
No Worker Shortage: Report Finds Low Wages Make Food Workers Want to Quit
Food worker scarcity “is not a labor shortage problem; it’s a wage shortage problem,” said the head of One Fair Wage.
!["Fight For $15" protesters, including workers and labor unions, march to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, at Colombus Square in New York on April 15, 2015.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2018/05/2021_0427-fight-for-15-400x300.jpg)
Biden to Sign Executive Order Raising Federal Workers’ Wages to $15 an Hour
The raise will go into effect for federal employees in 2022. Tipped contractors will see a $15 minimum by 2024.
![Sens. Mitt Romney and Kyrsten Sinema speak to each other during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on March 5, 2020, in Washington, D.C.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2018/05/2021_0415-romney-sinema-400x300.jpg)
Kyrsten Sinema Exploring Federal Minimum Wage of $11, Lower Than Her Own State’s
Sinema is looking into raising the federal minimum wage to $11 an hour, but the minimum wage in her state is $12.15.
![Wall Street Bull statue in New York's Financial District, seen on January 28, 2021.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/03/2021_0330-wall-street-400x300.jpg)
Minimum Wage Would Be $44 If It Grew as Much as Wall Street Bonuses Since 1985
Since 1985, the average Wall Street bonus has increased 1,217 percent.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/03/2021_0324-sanders-speaks-at-hearing-on-poverty-wages-400x300.jpg)
Sanders Is Calling Out Centrists on “Simple Moral Issue” of Minimum Wage
In a recent meeting, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema reiterated opposition to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s wage bill.
![Nacy Pelosi speaks at a podium](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/03/2021_0310-nancy-pelosi-400x300.jpg)
$1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Plan Opens New Horizons in Fight Against Austerity
Missed opportunities aside, Biden’s relief plan is a win against austerity that will cut child poverty by 40 percent.