I’m Matt Perry, a MoveOn member in Seattle, Washington, and I started a petition to Seattle City Council, which says:

As a resident of Seattle, I do business with and speak to folks making minimum wage in this city every day. These are the workers who prepare food, serve in retail sales, clean offices and homes, take care of the elderly and disabled, and perform many additional jobs that make our city work. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ national numbers, 25% of these folks are parents, three-quarters are over 20 years old, and over half are the primary wage earners in their households.

As a matter of basic fairness, these responsible workers should be paid at a minimal level that allows them to live in the city of Seattle.

Currently there is no such guarantee. Even though Washington State’s minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum, the state minimum is still below the very basic minimal costs of living in Seattle, for even a single person. For those with a child to take care of, the situation is worse: a single parent with one child would need to work over 80 state-minimum-wage hours every week to support the basic needs of their family.

Let’s establish a city-wide minimum wage that begins to correct this injustice. If you work here, you should be able to live here!

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Matt Perry

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Matt Perry didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.