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Article: In New Orleans, War Over Living Wage; Businesses Fight City's Vote Adding $1 to U.S. Minimum
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 16, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Peggy Welch, 28 and a single mother of four, is a cashier at
McDonald's on Canal Street. She did not get to vote recently in a
citywide referendum that adds $1 an hour to the federal minimum wage
in this tourist-driven town -- "I had to work," she said. But
naturally, she is all for a measure that would add $40 a week, before
taxes, to her paycheck.
"It's too hard to make ends meet the way it is," said Welch about
the $5.15 an hour she makes. "If it wasn't for my mom helping me out,
I don't know what I would do."
No one here is denying that it is difficult for minimum-wage
workers like Welch to get by. But there is sharp division, and a
court battle, about whether the recent referendum is ...