Norcross on NJ $15 Minimum Wage Agreement

CHERRY HILL, NJ – Today, U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross – a member of the House Education and Labor Committee and an electrician by trade – applauded the agreement by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Speaker Craig Coughlin to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour predictably over the next six years and issued the following statement:

“Governor Murphy, Senate President Sweeney and Speaker Coughlin joined me for their first public appearance together calling for $15 an hour minimum wage a little more than a year ago. Today, I’m glad to see they have announced an agreement that will help over a million workers and boost New Jersey’s economy.

“I was once a young single dad working for minimum wage and raising my son, having to balance work, family life and a checkbook. Back then, it was hard. Today, for far too many Americans, it’s nearly impossible. No American who works full-time should live in poverty.

“It’s been over 11 years since Congress even voted to raise the minimum wage and we must take action! My colleagues in Washington need to wake up, follow my home state’s lead and get to work to raise wages.

“Already, major South Jersey employers, like Cooper, Jefferson, Virtua and Amazon, are leading the way; they all announced they’ll be raising the wage to at least $15 an hour because they know the current floor is far too low. And business groups, employers and working families agree – America’s workers deserve a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.”

Norcross introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 with a bicameral group of colleagues, including the Democratic leadership team and Senator Bernie Sanders, yesterday. The Act was introduced with 188 House cosponsors. Click here to read the bill text, click here to read the section-by-section summary and click here to read the fact sheet.

Norcross was also an original sponsor of the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 and, in the New Jersey state legislature, Norcross was part of the successful fight to raise the minimum wage in New Jersey.

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• Norcross and a bicameral group of colleagues introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 on January 16, 2018.
• Norcross was unanimously elected to serve as Vice Chair and Liaison to Labor for Congressional Progressive Caucus in the 116th Congress, and said he looks forward to making certain that “every person has the dignity of a good-paying job” on November 29, 2018.
• In an op-ed in Roll Call reacting to the news that Amazon is raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour, Norcross wrote “Amazon is taking a step in the right direction, and it is well past time for Congress to follow suit” on October 12, 2018.
• Norcross and three of his colleagues issued the findings of their “Future of Work, Wages and Labor” initiative on September 5, 2018.
• Norcross applauded Governor Murphy’s prioritization of raising wages in an op-ed in The Star Ledger on July 22, 2018.
• Norcross, NJ Governor-Elect Phil Murphy, NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney and NJ Assembly Speaker-Designee Craig Coughlin stood with labor leaders and workers to call on all levels of government to raise wages for hardworking American families on November 20, 2017.
• Norcross reacted to the announcement that Target will raise minimum wage on September 25, 2017.
• Norcross published an op-ed in The Record titled “When they go low, we go higher wages” on September 9, 2017.
• Norcross hosted colleagues in South Jersey for a day-long forum on ‘The Future of Work, Wages and Labor’ on August 4, 2017.
• Norcross expressed strong support for the new Democratic agenda ‘A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future’ on July 24, 2017.
• Eight years after the last federal minimum wage increase, Norcross called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage at a news conference with a bicameral group of lawmakers and low-wage workers on July 25, 2017.
• Norcross and all of House Education and the Workforce Committee Democrats urged Chairwoman Virginia Foxx to hold a full Committee hearing on the Raise the Wage Act in a letter on July 24, 2017.
• Norcross wrote “first and foremost for me is raising wages” in an op-ed Sunday, July 23, 2017.
• Norcross and colleagues introduced the Raise the Wage Act on May 25, 2017.
• Norcross was appointed to serve on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and he vowed to represent New Jersey labor and working families on January 5, 2017.

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