Sierra Club Statement on Fight for 15 Day of Action

Today, low-wage workers are coming together and striking all over the country to fight for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and the right to form a union without retaliation. The Sierra Club is proud to stand in solidarity with these workers who are fighting for a living wage on a living planet.

In response, Sierra Club President Aaron Mair released the following statement:

"The Sierra Club is proud to stand in solidarity with low-wage workers because a fight for a livable wage is the exact same fight for our environment. Often, the industries that pollute the most pay the least. Workers are paying the price: people living in low income neighborhoods are more likely to live with the effects of polluted air. Low income families, especially women and children of color, are disproportionately affected by environmental toxins.

"Women can't break a glass ceiling they can't reach. Low-wage workers are more often than not women, who are paid less than men doing the same job, and many of which have families to provide for. These women, while overrepresented in lower-wage occupations, are paid less than men in the very same occupations. Women of color are paid even less.

"Corporations are making massive profits, but the toxic shortcuts they're taking to pad their pocketbooks are causing hardworking families to live without the ability to cover their basic needs like food, health care, child care, rent and transportation, all while bearing the brunt of their employer's corporate pollution."