Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is putting pressure on his opponents in the Democratic primary to stand in solidarity with workers agitating for a federal $15 per hour minimum wage—a stand that front-runner Hillary Clinton has been unwilling to take.
“The current federal minimum wage is a starvation wage, and it must become a living wage,” Sanders wrote in a message to supporters on Wednesday.
“I believe that position should be adopted by all of the candidates running for president,” he added. “Sadly, that is not yet true, even for the Democrats.”
Sanders, who has introduced legislation that would raise the hourly federal minimum wage to $15 from its current rate of $7.25 per hour,has aligned himself with a national movement organizing low income workers known as the ”Fight For 15.”\
Hillary Clinton supports a more modest increase to a $12 hourly wage. She was pressed in July by AFL-CIO leaders to support the higher amount, but claimed it wasn’t politically feasible.
“Let’s not just do it for the sake of having a higher number out there, but let’s actually get behind a proposal that has a chance of succeeding,” she countered, noting she supports legislation sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) that would raise the minimum wage to $12 and tie it to inflation.
Clinton pointed to “different economic environments” around the country, and claimed that “what you can do in LA or in New York may not work in other places.”
The former Secretary of State and US Senators’ stance has left her vulnerable to criticism from rivals..
“Some people will say this is hard to do,” O’Malley said in July, referring to Clinton. “And it will be. But leadership is about forging public consensus —not following it,” he stated.
Sanders has declared the current wage floor to be a “national disgrace,” and noted that “millions of full-time workers are living in poverty and millions more are forced to work two or three jobs just to pay their bills.”
Neither of the remaining Democrats in the race, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffee, have publicly taken a stance on the issue.
Last week, the Democratic Party enveloped the “Fight for 15” into its official platform heading into 2016.
