Third and State

The New York Times reports this morning that a labor organizer and advocate for a higher minimum wage in Bangladesh has been brutally murdered. 

• Julfikar Ali Manik and Vikas Bajaj, The New York Times — Killing of Bangladeshi Labor Organizer Signals an Escalation in Violence:

The killing of the activist, Aminul Islam, marks a morbid turn in the often tense relations between labor groups, on one side, and Bangladesh’s extensive garment industry, which makes clothes for Western companies like Walmart, Tommy Hilfiger and H&M. In 2010, Mr. Islam, a former textile factory worker, was arrested and, he and other labor activists said, was tortured by the police and intelligence services.

Also in The New York Times this morning, Steven Greenhouse profiles the campaign to raise the minimum wage in the United States.

• Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times — Raising the Floor on Pay:

As the nation’s economy slowly recovers and income inequality emerges as a crucial issue in the presidential campaign, lawmakers are facing growing pressure to raise the minimum wage, which was last increased at the federal level to $7.25 an hour in July 2009.

State legislators in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and elsewhere are pushing to raise the minimum wage above the federal level in their own states, arguing that $7.25 an hour is too meager for anyone to live on.

 It's time to get serious about raising the minimum wage here in Pennsylvania.