Verizon’s greed has forced 40,000 of our CWA and IBEW brothers and sisters out on a strike that is entering its sixth week. The company’s refusal to settle a fair agreement is inexcusable and undermines the dedicated workforce that makes the company’s profits possible in the first place.

Not that long ago, it seemed unrealistic to think that labor walks could be completed 100 percent electronically. But, on Saturday, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) achieved that goal when the Mercer County Central Labor Council completed a walk without a single paper packet being distributed!

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO and the community advocacy organization Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc., are at the forefront of a new campaign to ensure that every worker in our state has the opportunity to earn a survivable wage.

That’s why the state federation and our allies in the community are championing the bill S-15/A-15, which raises the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years.

The Assembly Labor Committee advanced three bills on Thursday that would help strengthen New Jersey’s working families.

The bill, A-15, gradually raises New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, giving low-wage workers a much needed raise in this high-cost state. A $15 phased-in minimum wage would give workers a fighting chance to make ends meet, and help ensure that all work is dignified.

The party line vote to advance the bills was 6-3. Democrats Joseph Egan (D-17), Shavonda Sumter (D-35), Craig Coughlin (D-19), Annette Quijano (D-20), Arthur Barclay (D-5) and Angela McKnight (D-31) voted yes. Republicans Ronald Dancer (D-12), Parker Space (D-24) and Jay Webber (D-26) voted no.

Realizing the need for updated overtime rules, the Obama Administration has raised the qualifying income threshold to $47,476 for salaried employees, making 4.2 million more workers eligible for time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours per week. Under the regulation, which will take effect on December 1, 2016, the threshold will be updated every three years.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO and its coalition partner, Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc., are again leading the charge for a higher minimum wage to benefit the state's lowest earners. Watch as NJ AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan and WFUNJ Chair Charles Hall Jr. explain why it's time for NJ to enact a $15 minimum wage:

The next two legislative session days are important to working families, as bills on the minimum wage, prevailing wages and pension funding are scheduled to be considered. Please join us in Trenton to show your support for these significant pieces of legislation that will benefit our union brothers and sisters and working people throughout the state.

This Thursday, May 19, at 10:00 a.m. in the Statehouse Annex, Committee Room 15, the Assembly Labor Committee will consider a bill (A-15) to gradually raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, giving low-wage workers a much needed raise in this high-cost state.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO applauds the members of the Senate Labor Committee who today voted to advance the $15 minimum wage bill (S-15) by a vote of 3 to 0 with one abstention as well as a bill extending unemployment benefits to striking workers (S-2160) by a vote of 3 to 1. Both votes were along party lines.