By Dave Jamieson
Huffington Post, Feb 11, 2014
WASHINGTON -- On a recent afternoon, Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez found himself getting a five-minute tutorial in paint-mixing at an Ace Hardware store in downtown Washington, D.C. The crash course wasn't for any personal home-improvement purposes. Now seven months into his post, Perez is playing the role of ambassador for a raise to the federal minimum wage ... "How did I do?" Perez asked his tutor, Christina Amaya, as he pulled a quart of purple paint out of the mixer.
Amaya earns $13 per hour as an associate at the store, which is owned by A Few Cool Hardware Stores, a Washington-area chain of Ace shops. Her pay is nearly $5 above the current D.C. minimum wage and $6 above the federal ...