Vanita Gupta in Minimum Wage Hearing: “Working People Should Be Able to Live in Dignity”

February 7, 2019

For Immediate Release
Contact: Shin Inouye, 202.869.0398, [email protected]

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, will testify before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor today on “Gradually Raising the Minimum Wage to $15: Good for Workers, Good for Businesses, and Good for the Economy.”  The committee’s hearing will focus on H.R. 582, The Raise the Wage Act of 2019. In her testimony on behalf of the civil and human rights coalition, Gupta highlights the importance of wage equity to ensure economic security for all.

“We should all be paid fairly for the work that we do, regardless of our gender, race, ethnicity, disability, age, or sexual orientation,” Gupta says in her testimony. “We call on Congress to give working families across our country the raise they are overdue.”

Her testimony includes findings from a 2018 report by The Leadership Conference’s sister organization, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality entitled “Bare Minimum Why We Need to Raise Wages for America’s Lowest-Paid Families.”

Her testimony can be found here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.