Mitch Perry
Democratic state Rep. Dwight Dudley and Congressional District 13 candidate Eric Lynn said Monday they’ll live on minimum wages for the duration of this week to show their support for workers striving to get the minimum wage raised to $15 an hour. They talked about their plan at a press conference outside of a McDonald’s in north St. Petersburg.
Last week, 18 Democrats in the Legislature said they would take the “Minimum Wage Challenge.” Two other local lawmakers said to be taking the plunge – St. Petersburg’s state representative Darryl Rouson and Tampa representative Ed Narain – were listed as speakers for the event, but did not appear.
“I came up hard, one of nine kids, it’s not going to be that hard for me to do,” Dudley told a group of reporters and about 20 activists as a steady rain descended. “But, I’m going to continue to eat my ‘peaonana’ sandwiches at lunch, and riding the bus some and taking my bike. It is tough for all the families who are trying to get by on minimum wage. It’s just not enough.”
“Here in Florida, we have 1.7 million people living in poverty,” said Lynn, the only declared candidate in the CD 13 seat that David Jolly is vacating next year. “That’s not the poverty that you and I think of. That’s people who are working 40 plus hours a week, and they’re still living under the poverty line, because our federal government will not raise the minimum wage.” Lynn said that he and his wife had planned to visit a toy store on Thursday to purchase a gift for their son. Alas, that’s now off the table.
“I’m sad to say that my son will not be getting what he originally thought he was going to get, but I am proud, because we need to fight, for the workers across Florida to make sure they get the wage that they deserve,” he said.
He bemoaned that in years past, Republicans and Democrats were able to come together to support rising the minimum wage in Congress. A la the “Ice Bucket Challenge” from the summer of 2014, Lynn called on two local officials to take the “Minimum Wage Challenge.”
One was St. Petersburg City Council member Amy Foster, because she’s been “fighting for workers” for years, and former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, “because as I said earlier, Republicans and Democrats used to work together to raise the minimum wage for our country. But we’ve seen a Republican Party not willing to do that anymore, and I hope that both these people will accept my challenge.”
There has been speculation that Baker will be a Republican candidate for the CD 13 seat.
St. Petersburg childcare worker Demitra Atkins has been working in the industry for 27 years. She applauds the lawmakers for taking the challenge.
“I think they forget where they started from, and they need to be reminded,” she said after the press conference ended. “They swore to protect us, and we need to remind them that they’re not doing such a good job right now.”
Earlier this month, Miami Democratic state Sen. Dwight Bullard and Orlando Rep. Victor Torres filed respective bills for the 2016 legislative session (SB 6 and HB 109) that calls for the state’s minimum wage rise from $8.05 to $15.
There’s also a proposal in Congress sponsored by Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison in the House that would ultimately raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2020.
How the challenge works for elected officials:
1. They must budget of $85 per week or $17 per day for all of expenses excluding housing, car payments, credit card bills and childcare expenses.
2. They must stick to the budget for all other expenses during the five days of the challenge.
3. They must participate in one task per day during the week such as grocery shopping, riding to work with a low wage worker (bus, walk, etc.), eating out, etc.
4. Post a minimum of one social media post per day that includes either a picture or video describing experiences and any challenges they faced each day. Every social media post will include the hashtags #FLfor15 and #Fightfor15
5. At the end of the challenge, post a video to Facebook or Twitter challenging five people to take the challenge.
State Senators:
Dwight Bullard, D-Miami
Jeffrey Clemens, D-Lake Worth
Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando
Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach
State House Representatives:
Victor Torres, D-Orlando
José Javier Rodríguez, D-Miami
Amanda Murphy, D-New Port Richey
John Cortes, D-Kissimmee
Bobby Dubose, D-Fort Lauderdale
Kristen Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek
Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg
Barbara Watson, D-Miami Gardens
Sharon Pritchett, D-Miramar
Darryl Rousson, D-St. Petersburg
Evan Jenne, D-Hollywood
Cynthia A. Stafford, D-Opa Locka
David Kerner, D-Palm Springs
Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee
