Join the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) of Michigan at a virtual press conference on Friday, July 23rd, at 10:00 am EDT, to hear from restaurant workers, leaders from Black churches and other interfaith groups, elected officials, and community allies on why we need to raise the federal minimum wage and provide workers the living wages that they deserve.
Why is 7.25 an important number to remember?
On Sunday, 7/25, it is hard to ignore that the U.S. federal minimum wage has been frozen at $7.25 per hour since 2009. Yes, it has been more than 12 years since it was last raised $0.70 from $6.55. Since then, hardworking families—including millions of restaurant workers—have struggled to get by: hundreds of thousands of them live in poverty, rely on public assistance, and experience discrimination and wage theft.
In Michigan, the minimum wage is currently frozen at $9.65 per hour and $3.67 per hour for tipped employees because of the state’s Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act. Workers have continued struggling to make ends meet, and this has only gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Share your story with us by emailing Anthony at info@rocunited.org!
Speakers
Chris white
ROC Michigan State Director and Moderator
Dr.
Alicia Renee Farris
Chief Operations Officer, ROC United
Bishop J. Drew Sheard
Presiding Bishop of COGIC and Pastor of Greater Emmanuel Institutional COGIC
Dr.
Wallace R. Mills, Jr.
BME State Convention President and Pastor, New Ebenezer Baptist Church
State Rep.
Helena Scott
District 7th
Pastor
Hurley J. Coleman, Jr.
World Outreach Campus Church and Saginaw African American Pastors
Nik Cole
Michigan Chef
State Rep.
Bill Sowerby
District 31st
Kamilia Landrum
Executive Director, Detroit Branch NAACP
Rev.
Edward Pinkney
Pastor, God Household of Faith, Benton Harbor
The Reverend
Reginald Brantley
United Church of Christ and ROC United Board of Directors
Faith Partners
BANCO (Benton Harbor)
BASS (Highland Park)
Be-Moor Radio
Chosen Kingdom Builders (Pontiac)
Church of GOD in Christ, Inc
Council of Baptist Pastors Detroit and Vicinity, Inc.
Detroit Branch NAACP
Detroit People's Platform
Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan (EJAM)
Evangelical Baptist District Association
Greater Emmanuel Church of COGIC
Michigan Faith in Action
Michigan State A. Philip Randolph Institute
Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network (MUUSJN)
MOSES
Saginaw African American Pastors
Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice
Southeast Michigan Synod of ELCA- Advocacy Team
Tri-City Community Development Corporation (Southwest Detroit, Ecorse and , River Rouge)
World Outreach Campus Church (Saginaw)
Almost 59% of restaurant workers in Michigan are women, and 27.4% are people of color, populations who bear the brunt of the pandemic’s social and economic impacts.