In West Virginia, what life or weather throws at you can get in the way of making it to a voting booth on election day. To assure that you can make your vote, your voice, heard, plan to take advantage of our early voting days, while we still have them.
West Virginia’s minimum wage has been stuck at $8.75 for a decade, while several surrounding states whose economies are booming have leapfrogged our rate. Our minimum wage keeps a worker with one child below the federal poverty level and far below the living wage for West Virginia. This shameful situation needs to be addressed by the legislature by setting a humane and adequate wage with a cost-of-living multiplier.
A low minimum wage affects the health and well-being of an entire family. The families of working mothers pregnant or with babies and young children are especially vulnerable. A low minimum wage is way below adequate to build and sustain healthy children. And it can lead to the disintegration of families and put more stress on the state’s already overstressed foster care system.