Rally Organized To Encourage Manchin To Support $15 An Hour

About 50 people rallied in Charleston on the sidewalk in front of U.S Sen. Joe Manchin’s Charleston office to encourage him to vote yes on the proposed $15 an hour federal minimum wage.

The minimum wage increase is part of the COVID relief package currently before Congress.

The rally was organized by the Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign. The groups organize Moral Mondays events nationwide to focus on equity issues. Charleston was one of eight cities with simultaneous events.

Eric Douglas

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WVPB

Matt Kerner drove to Charleston from Buckhannon in Upshur County to be part of the event. He told a story about a man he knew in a plant where he worked in. The man was begging for a raise because his wife had a complicated pregnancy and couldn’t work.

“And the plant manager told him, minimum wage is our way of telling you if we could pay you any less, we would,” Kerner said.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass the current relief package this week and then it will go to the Senate. Senators Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have both questioned the wage increase.