"I'm speaking to you, Sen. Manchin": West Virginians blast Democrat for opposing $15 minimum wage

[riversedge]

Source: salon





"When will you give us a living wage?" one activist demands of West Virginia's so-called Democrat

February 20, 2021 10:00AM (UTC)



Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is under sustained fire — including from low-paid workers in his own state — for his resistance to a provision in the Senate's coronavirus rescue package that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

"I'm speaking to you, Sen. Manchin," Jean Evansmore of the West Virginia Poor People's Campaign said at an online event Monday. "You know that in West Virginia the minimum wage needs to be $23 in order for people to live, not wonder where their next meal is coming from."


"Enough's enough," added Pam Garrison, also with the West Virginia Poor People's Campaign. "When will you give us a living wage?"

The bill in question, the House-passed Raise the Wage Act, would incrementally raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2025.

West Virginia's minimum wage is currently $8.75 an hour....................


Read more: https://www.salon.com/2021/02/20/im-speaking-to-you-sen-manchin-west-virginians-blast-democrat-for-opposing-15-minimum-wage_partner/

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill June 16, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

[secondwind]

1. Is it just lack of empathy?

I’m sure Uncle Sam takes good care of him. I just don’t get it.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Campaign donations from wage-slave holders. nt

[onetexan]

17. Bingo!!

[liberalhistorian]

32. I think part of the problem is that

West Virginia once again voted heavily for Agent Orange despite getting absolutely nothing from his administration over the past four years, and Manchin likely feels that he has to be republican-lite because of that. That's just my theory, though.

[twodogsbarking]

2. I like WV

but there are too many poor and poorly educated people there. Do something for them. You have kept them in the dark so long they fear the light.

[NCjack]

3. Sen. Byrd did what he could to bring WV from the 1700s to the early 1900s.

Time for Sen. Manchin to help the people of WV -- give them an increase in minimum wages.

That's the best way to put money into the economy of WV. They will spend that money in WV, unlike the rich who put it in an offshore bank. When WV does better, we all do better.

[diverdownjt]

5. No it's time for you west virginians to do your job and unelect this turd.

You know...next chance you get.

[Yeehah]

13. Manchin voted for the ACA and will help us out when he can

A corrupt republican like Shelley Moore-Capito will always vote against Democratic legislation, and that's what you're going to get if Joe's not elected. Democrats are fortunate that Manchin is very popular in WV, despite the "D" behind his name.

[Thekaspervote]

18. ☝️☝️☝️☝️

[atreides1]

26. You're wrong

Manchin will help West Virginians, as long as he gains something from that help!

[Yeehah]

27. What did he gain by voting for the ACA

and voting to convict Trump?

[reader1]

29. Good point

[doc03]

24. If Machin leaves we will get a Republican, Manchin is better than that nt

[yardwork]

34. Not if it means losing a Democratic senator.

We need the Senate majority in order to control committees and do things. The people of WV are doing the right thing - pressuring their senator.

The problem is the enormous power wielded by the hyper-wealthy in election campaigns. The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court is destroying our democracy.

[doc03]

14. Back when Senator Byrd was in office the Republicans on talk radio would always

call him Robert "KKK" Byrd and attack him for wasteful spending. Senator Byrd brought billions of dollars to WV, every
slab of concrete was named after Senator Byrd. That was their attack line on Senator Byrd he brought money
back to their state and he once belonged to the KKK. I worked in a steel mill in the Ohio Valley and Senator Byrd got us a
$110 million Federal loan guarantee to build us a new furnace saved our jobs until the GWB recession shut us down.
Now that state has went under total Republican control and Joe Manchin is the lone Democrat. Robert "KKK" Byrd used
to be their attack on Byrd now they have gone full racist Republican and are now a Right To Work For Less State. It is ironic
Virginia was a Confederate state and WV seceded from Virginia to fight for the Union. Now WV is a racist Red state and Virginia
is a Blue stale. What has it got them they are still number 49th or 50th for everything good and 1st or 2nd for everything bad.
They are lucky there is Mississippi for competition.

[twodogsbarking]

16. I just want children to grow up

with a better life. Children get the wrong end of the stick too often.

[reader1]

30. Politics are different in WV

so its either Manchin or a Trump candidate.

[DeminPennswoods]

4. I just do not get this

WVa is one of the poorest states in the country. This would help so many people there and it would put dollars back into the communities where these workers live, thus creating a virtuous cycle of economic growth.

Further WVa borders PA, MD, VA and OH where higher wages do attract WVa residents to better paying jobs. At least some of those better wages are spent in the border states instead of in WVa.

Maybe he needs a sit down with Rev Barber to explain this to him.

[Joinfortmill]

7. She's right. We need to wake up to the real world

These politicians are always telling us the U.S. is the greatest, while the rest of the developed world leaves us behind. Telling yourself you live in the greatest country in the world isn't going to feed your family.

[PatSeg]

9. Yes, eventually people wake up and realize they have been sold

a bill of goods. Not being able to afford food, shelter, and medicine doesn't feel all that "great".

[cstanleytech]

8. I agree it should be 23 and hour but there is no way in hell it will pass and 15 is shit.

That is why I really am not pro 15 and instead am pro raising the fuck out of the corporate taxes to like 60% to 80% and doing away with all tax breaks for companies that earn more than 30 million a year.
Then link the tax breaks they can receive to the number of employees that they have as well as the number of those that earn 500% or more over the federal poverty level which is not and should never be controlled by the House or Senate.
The more employees (and employees are both temp, contract as well as employees for franchises) that earn that much the progressively lower their taxes and say they employee 1 million or more like Walmart and say 95% of those employees are earning that much then I would not object to zero corporate taxes.

[IronLionZion]

10. Manchin and Sinema are pandering to businesses in their states

not the workers.

[Ollie Garkie]

11. Will Manchin and sinema

Actually sink the stimulus over this?

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. Keep his feet to the fire. Nt

[HUAJIAO]

15. If republicans in congress were paid $7.50/hr I'm sure they would vote differently.

[DallasNE]

19. West Virginia Was A Blue State

Al Gore won West Virginia in 2000. The one thing West Virginia had was coal. And back in the days of strong unions the United Mineworkers brought good wages to the coal industry.

But coal was a 2 edge sword. I was high sulfur so demand shifted away from their product. That soon made West Virginia one of the poorest states in America, along with Mississippi. Only if we didn't have these environmentalist everything would be fine and that made West Virginia a ripe opportunity for Republicans who oppose protections for the American people if it hurts profits.

The answer should have been to diversify their economy and retrain the workers to have the skills to succeed in the new economy. It needed to be a joint effort between the federal and state governments with incentives to attract private in vestment. But that didn't happen so here we are today. As long as Republicans do nothing except blame environmentalists aligned with Democrats for the plight of West Virginians the Republicans will carry the day. At some point the people of West Virginia need to demand options other than coal because that is not coming back. That is a hard pill to swallow. It is an easy sell for Republicans to strike fear in the hearts of those making $8 an hour that a low paying job is better than no job at all and that is the obstacle Joe Manchin faces. Fear sells.

[Bengus81]

21. There were plants making buggy whips,typewriters and 8 Track tape cartridges....

Time marches on. When the State puts all it's eggs--or most of them in a dying industry then the clock is always ticking at their backs. They need real leadership there that does more than blame everything on Libruls and tree huggers.

[moose65]

33. Can anyone who actually lives in W Va chime in?

I don’t understand Manchin either. Raising the minimum wage would help poor people in West Virginia. Actually West Virginia already has a minimum wage that’s higher than the federal one: it’s 8.75 there. So in theory, politicians there DO recognize that 7.25 is too low.

I’ve only been to West Virginia a few times, mostly in the Harper’s Ferry area. The wedge of WVa in the east isn’t that far from DC. I keep wishing that some of the DC suburbs would eventually creep out that way!

W Va used to be one of the most Democratic states in the country. Now, it seems that national Democrats have given up on it, and that’s why Trump was able to win it by such a huge margin. Capito actually was re-elected last year, in a race that no one followed. She won 70 - 27. That’s the fate that awaits any Democrat except Manchin.

To West Virginia residents: is there any hope? Any bright spots? There are liberals even in West Virginia but I’m sure they feel abandoned.

There aren’t really that many jobs in coal any longer. I just tried to find the largest employer in West Virginia, and to my surprise it’s not Wal-Mart. It’s actually the West Virginia University Health center.

[Bengus81]

20. Paying higher wages doesn't cost a business money it MAKES them money....

Remember back 15+ years when groups were trying like hell to get those thugs at Walmart to pay a living wage or something close? OMG if they did that everything in the store would double or triple in price was the BS from Republicans!!! Stores would close all over the US.

BS..They finally got the message and are paying some 15.00 per hour and others around 11.00. Did they go under? Did prices there spike to ridiculous levels. NO. Same Republican BS they've been spouting about MW since the 30's.

I've had employee's. The most expensive part is training them. They don't make you money until they understand the job. Paying them more so they'll stay MAKES you money in the long run.

[seta1950]

22. In my opinion

If we were to pay them the same as people making minimum wage, they would have plenty of empathy.

[Bettie]

23. Wasn't it Joe Manchin's daughter who

raised the price of epi pens?

Shows the values she was raised with, values she learned from her father.

NO reason to expect that he cares about the lower income people in his state or anywhere else.

https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/07/politics/manchin-defends-bresch-mylan-epipen-price/index.html

[doc03]

25. I think so and there is a lot more to that story that I can't comment on

can't criticize Democrats here you know.

[reader1]

28. Not too sure about

since criticizing blue dog democrats is very common here.

[Ollie Garkie]

31. we dont have a majority

this asshole will sink the stimulus.