One Fair Wage's work to support low-wage workers is more important than ever! The Living Wage for All campaign's goal is to raise wages across the country to meet the true cost of living—now a minimum of $25/hour even in the lowest-cost county in the United States—for all workers. 

What Is Living Wage for All?

The top priority issue for working people nationwide is the cost of living and the affordability crisis. Fortunately, there are workers and worker organizations across the country fighting for higher and more inclusive wage increases for many different groups of workers, and some are coming together under the umbrella of a ‘Living Wage for All’. Currently, there are Living Wage for All coalitions and campaigns in 6 states (NY, IL, MD, CA, MI, DC). The vision of this growing coalitions is to co-create a national campaign to fight for: 

A Living Wage… - a minimum wage that is closer to the cost of living, as measured by tools like the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which measures the total cost of housing, food, transportation and other necessities in counties and states relative to family size. The MIT Living Wage Calculator shows that even a single person with no children working in the lowest-cost county in the United States - McLennan County, Texas - needs at least $25 an hour to cover the basic cost of living. Several localities and sectors of workers have already begun winning minimum wages of $25 and higher. Some campaigns are using ballot language of ‘increasing the minimum wage by X per year’ to get to 25 or higher instead of focusing on a particular dollar number; this language has polled higher than particular dollar numbers.  

…For All - a minimum wage that includes all workers and ends all current exemptions for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, youth, incarcerated workers, and more. The subminimum wages for tipped workers and incarcerated workers are direct legacies of slavery, and other subminimum wages also have historical roots in the dehumanization of certain groups of people. Tipped workers, workers with disabilities, and youth have won a full minimum wage with tips on top in multiple states and localities; to date, no jurisdiction has ended the subminimum wage for incarcerated workers. In multiple states, including red states, polling has shown greater support for all workers receiving a minimum wage than for raising the minimum wage to a particular number.

Ultimately, this campaign will not only raise wages for millions of working people; it will also address racial inequities and sexual harassment, motivate hundreds of thousands of young low-wage workers to vote, and bring us the closest we have ever been to a nation with livable wages and no subminimum wages. 

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