By Senator Sherrod Brown:

For generations, hardworking Americans have left their homes every morning – and some at night – to earn an honest living. They have bent swollen knees to put on steel-toe work boots to provide for loved ones. They have put up with calloused hands to build a better life for their children. Middle-class Americans – and people struggling to enter the middle class – labor to ensure their children have enough food, enough clothes, and enough education to thrive.

But we know that steelworkers, nurses, mechanics, teachers, firefighters, and plumbers aren’t always treated with the dignity they deserve. American history is a history of struggle for working people – fighting to get ahead, fighting for representation and fair wages, fighting for access to good-paying jobs and fighting for the dignity and respect befitting for their efforts for themselves and their families.

Unfortunately, some Americans who work hard and play by the rules still cannot get ahead. Too many working people still live in poverty – not because they’re driving fancy cars or buying expensive homes, but simply because they aren’t paid a living wage.