Montana Standard:Union head: Tester will aid workers
This week, an important anniversary will pass that means a lot to many Montanans. It also offers some important insight into the people who will be asking for our vote in the upcoming election for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat.
Four years ago this week, Congress passed the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which boosted the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour ($7.35 per hour in Montana). This boost ended the longest gap between wage increases in American history.
In Montana, we don’t have huge, multi-billion dollar industries to support job creation. We don’t have Wall Street banks or Silicon Valley. What we do have are a lot of innovative main street merchants, a lot of hard-working people who know what it means to put in a long day’s work, and a lot of working families who juggle priorities each paycheck to make ends meet.
Progress in wages and working conditions are especially important for Montana workers and main street merchants. So it is especially important that we have leaders representing our state who understand the people of Montana; our concerns, experiences, and values.
