Somerville residents were among the hundreds of demonstrators who headed to Boston on June 12 to demand for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

“I’m here today because low pay is not okay,” said Somerville resident Rand Wilson, also the Communication and Policy Director for Service Employees International (SEIU) Union 888 in Charlestown. “Anybody making less than fifteen dollars an hour on the job, that’s a crime. Nobody should be paid wages you can’t live on.”

The rally – organized by the Wage Action Coalition, which includes SEIU and Jobs with Justice – came just weeks after Seattle, WA, raised its minimum wage to fifteen dollars. Wage Action Coalition also organized marches in Worcester and Springfield.

Low wage workers like taxi drivers, fast food workers and airport employees, and their supporters; all showed they are in the “fight for fifteen” with posters, banners, speeches and music.

“Somerville is a city of immigrant workers,” Somerville resident and retired truck driver Greg Gigg told Somerville Neighborhood News. “It’s the workers at the lower end just coming into our society that are struggling, dealing with rotten employers, making minimum wage or being cheated of their wages, those are the workers who really do need our support.” The full article and news video here and at scatvsomerville.org/SNN.
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