| In this Sept. 14, 2014 file photo, protesters participate in a rally outside a McDonaldis on Chicago's south side as labor organizers escalate their campaign raise the minimum wage for employees to $15 an hour. As Democrats across the country make an election-year push to raise the minimum wage, they are also looking to motivate younger people, minorities and others in their base to go to the polls on Nov. 4th. The party has put questions on the ballot in five states asking voters whether the minimum wage should be increased. TRENTON — Speaking at a Bloomberg News event in Washington D.C. today, U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez said Gov. Chris Christie has “got his head in the sand” when it comes to the nation's lowest-paid workers. Earlier this week, Christie made headlines by saying he was "tired" of hearing about the minimum wage as a mid-term election issue. According to a Bloomberg News report, Perez noted that when it comes to a national minimum wage, the U.S. is a dismal third-from-dead-last among the 34 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes the U.S., the United Kingdom, most Western European nations, Scandinavia, Mexico and Australia. "I mean, we suck,” Perez said. Minimum wage in New Jersey is now $8.25, a base rate that was hiked just this year, after voters passed a legislatively-referred... |
