By K.C. Wassman
Michigan Daily, January 30, 2014
Last week, Zingerman’s co-owner Paul Saginaw visited Washington, D.C. to lobby Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez for an increase in minimum wage. But on Thursday, D.C. came to Zingerman’s.
Rep. John Dingell (D–Mich.), joined by state Rep. Jeff Irwin (D–Ann Arbor) and state Rep. Adam Zemke (D–Ann Arbor), ate a late lunch with Zingerman’s employees and local business owners to discuss actions on the federal and state level to raise the minimum wage. Dingell, who is a co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, said a local business coming to Washington to share its views testifies to the importance of the issue. ...
While Dingell praised Zingerman’s for its food, he continually acknowledged the deli as a leader in the fight for increased wages by setting a good example for other businesses: the restaurant pays its employees above minimum wage.
Roughly 10 Zingerman’s employees gathered around a table to voice their support for a wage increase and to ask what their representatives were doing to bring about the change. Irwin and Zemke both cited their co-sponsorship of state House Bill 4386 as the concrete action they are taking to increase wages. If passed, the bill would raise the minimum wage in the state of Michigan from $7.40 to $9 per hour. ...
Bess Anderson, who has worked at Zingerman’s for five months, said an increase in minimum wage would lead to a significant improvement in people’s lifestyles.
“A dollar an hour can change my life significantly from the way I think about grocery shopping to what I can do for my family,” Anderson said.
Many of the employees discussed their concerns about low minimum wage in the context of student loans and going back to school, adding that minimum wage job is not enough to pay for higher education. ...
Sanford Bledsoe, owner of The Espresso Bar in Kerrytown, said though his business is young, he has managed to pay his employees consistently above minimum wage. He said his decision to pay his employees an increased wage stems from his observations of employees at chain coffee shops.
“People who work in coffee shops do not usually make much money. It’s eight or nine hours standing on your feet, living off a diet of pastries. It’s not a sustainable job, so I said I’m going to try and make it one,” Bledsoe said. ...
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