Labor Secretary Campaigns For Higher Federal Minimum Wage

In Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 19, 2014, Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez continued campaigning to raise the federal minimum wage with a visit to printing company LetterLogic.

LetterLogic CEO Sherry Deutschmann and employee give Labor Secretary Perez a tour of their facilities.

LetterLogic’s CEO Sherry Stewart Deutschmann has made investing in her workforce a priority. LetterLogic specializes in printing and mailing of statements, invoices, and letters for businesses nationwide.

Tennessee is among the states with highest number of minimum wage workers on a per capita basis. The state’s approximately 117,000 minimum wage workers account for 7.5% of Tennessee’s workforce.

Employees Make More Than Federal Minimum Wage

LetterLogic employees earn a starting wage of $12 an hour, significantly more than the current $7.25 federal minimum wage many workers Tennessee earn.

“What we’ve seen as the result of the failure to raise the minimum wage is the floor has a lot of trap doors in it, and people have fallen into poverty. And nobody who works a full-time job should have to live in poverty,” Perez said.

While Tenneesee has among the highest percentage of minimum wage workers in the nation, it is one of the only states without a minimum wage law.

A few days earlier, Perez visited Boston where he met with the founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company, Jim Koch. Boston Beer Company makes Sam Adams, America’s most successful craft beer.

Koch told Perez that, without his workers, he wouldn’t be successful. That’s why he not only pays his workers above the federal minimum wage, but has implemented a paid sick leave program for his 1,200 employees.

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