In Springfield on June 12, there will be a rally for justice for poor workers. The rally will start at 4 p.m. and end at 6 p.m. "From Wal-Mart employees to fast food workers, the momentum for change is reaching all corners of the workforce," said rally organizer Jon Weissman of the western Massachusetts chapter of www.jwj.org. For more information, including the exact location of the rally, contact Weissman by phone at (413) 250-5267 or by e-mail: jon@wmjwj.org.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, Washington on May 1, hundreds of people attended a march and rally calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage for all workers in the city of 630,000 people. The same day, Seattle mayor Ed Murray came out in support of the plan, which has the support of all nine members of the city council.

This year, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. passed laws raising the minimum wage. The minimum wage in Washington, D.C. will be $11.50 an hour starting July 1, 2016. Connecticut and Maryland will both have a $10.10 an hour minimum wage starting January 1, 2017.

Currently, the nation's highest minimum wage is $9.32 an hour in Washington state. In Massachusetts it is now $8.00; in Vermont $8.73; and in New Hampshire $7.25.

Increases in the minimum wage have always followed public protest against low wages.

David Rolf is president of Service Employees union Local 775 in Seattle and co-chair of the Seattle mayor’s income inequality advisory committee. According to www.LaborNotes.org Rolf said, “Seattle can play the kind of role on income inequality that Selma and Birmingham played for civil rights.”