Recently, President Obama signed an executive order raising the minimum wage for government contractors to $10.10 per hour. However, many civilian employees working for the Department of Defense will see no change in their pay. Employees of Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) serve the DoD in many capacities, and the minimum wage for these positions remains at $7.25 per hour.
The reasoning is, perhaps, that many MCCS employees are military dependents and therefore do not provide the primary source of income for their households. This is both a generalization and an insult; people should be able to earn a living wage despite their marital status.
We urge the Obama administration to raise the minimum wage of MCCS employees and other civilian employees of the DoD to $10.10 per hour.