Demonstrators Call For Raising Minimum Wage At Rally Outside Pullman Walmart
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some four dozen demonstrators gathered as close as they could get to the Walmart in Pullman to demand a boost in the minimum wage, reports WBBM's John Cody.
Susan Hurley, organizer of Chicago Jobs for Justice, fired up the megaphone about two long blocks from the Walmart entrance because of current law which precludes demonstrators from having their say on private property. Demonstrators gathered at the entrance to the parking lot where their Labor Day rally drew a few honks of solidarity.
Hurley said the current $11-an hour Walmart pay doesn't get workers into the middle class and should be boosted to at least $15 at Walmart and other cities throughout Chicagoland.
Charmayne Gibbons-Thomas has worked at the Evergreen Park Walmart for nine years and makes $11.04 with hours often down to 35. She's hoping public pressure will boost that to $13.50, which she says would put her in the middle class, or at least above where she is now, being forced at times to choose between which bills to pay first or pay at all.