海角大神

Man who works for Senate sleeps on streets

Charles Gladden works for the US Senate, yet he is homeless.

For the past eight years, from his custodial post in the cafeteria of the聽Dirksen Senate Office Building, Charles Gladden has greeted聽the movers and shakers of Washington, D.C.

Nearly none of them knew that, when his shift was over, Mr. Gladden, who聽has been homeless for聽five years,聽would spend his nights sleeping on the street near the聽McPherson Square Metro Station.

鈥淥ur lawmakers, they don鈥檛 even realize what鈥檚 going on right beneath their feet,鈥� Gladden told the Washington Post's opinion columnist聽Catherine Rampell. 鈥�.鈥�

Gladden makes $11 an hour and brings home about $360 a week. He uses the majority of those funds, he says, to provide for his three daughters and grandchildren who struggle to find homes and jobs. He told Ms. Rampell that聽his family needs the money more than he does.

Washington, D.C. is one of the most expensive cities in the country to live, with households spending on average聽,聽according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.聽

To call attention to the difficulties facing low-income workers,聽Gladden and his fellow janitor and food service contract workers at the Senate, walked off the job to join protesters聽Wednesday who were calling for an聽executive聽order聽requiring聽that all federal contractors聽,聽provide benefits with paid leave, and allow collective bargaining.

However, such an executive order would not apply to Gladden or the other聽2,500 or so contracted Capitol employees.

鈥淭hey are participating, I would guess, ," Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent whose offices are in the Dirksen building, told CQ Roll Call before the walkout.聽"And the bottom line is the federal government, anybody, any business that has a contract with the federal government, should pay a living wage.鈥�

The "Fight for 15," as the campaign for a $15-per-hour minimum wage is called, has mobilized demonstrations across the country. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, widely considered to be a possible liberal rival to Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has endorsed the idea.

In Washington, on April 15, a number聽of social justice groups to raise Washington, D.C.'s minimum wage to $15 an hour.聽

鈥淭his fight is not about what Wal-Mart would say it鈥檚 about, it鈥檚 not about profit shares, it鈥檚 not about stock prices and it鈥檚 not about bottom lines,鈥� Delvone Michael, director of聽D.C. Working Families, told the Washington Post. 鈥淭his fight is about real people. This fight is about who we are as a city and what we become as a nation.鈥�

Opponents of raising the minimum wage to $15 claim that it would have adverse effects on states with lower costs of living.聽Slate commentator聽Reihan Salam聽argued, as paychecks hypothetically increase,聽.聽An expensive state like Massachusetts, Mr. Salam argues, is far better equipped to handle a minimum wage hike versus a state like Mississippi, where 28 percent of workers currently make below $15 an hour.聽

Even in this context, however Washington's cost of living is much closer to that of Boston than to that of Jackson, Miss., suggesting that that the nation's capital would have an easier time than many parts of the country in absorbing a minimum wage increase.

鈥淭his whole economic recovery has completely left wages behind. We鈥檙e talking about hiking the minimum wage. This isn鈥檛 a living wage,鈥� David Bronner head of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap and supporter of the D.C. ballot initiative, told the Post. 鈥淟et鈥檚 just say that when Wal-Mart has a holiday food drive for their own employees, come on.鈥�