JANITORS, TEACHERS, SOCIAL WORKERS…LEFT HOLDING THE BAG

Speaker Shannon denies raises to middle class, but gives huge tax-funded raises to crony attorneys

OKLAHOMA CITY– Oklahoma’s House Speaker T.W. Shannon has given his personal staff of attorneys huge raises, and yet he and Mary Fallin deny teachers pay raises. The cost Oklahomans will have to pay for Shannon’s staff members increase in pay is an additional $280,000 annually that the majority of which goes to only a handful of employees. Speaker Shannon displays cronyism by giving raises to his friends and denies living wages to various groups such as teachers, social workers, and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

State employees have not seen an across-the-board pay increase since 2006. It is clear that the Republican leadership is continuing their class warfare by denying middle class Oklahomans a living wage.

“How can the Republicans deny raises to these middle class employees, especially when we have seen our state revenues increase?” Chairman Wallace Collins continued, “Shannon needs to learn laws can change lives, and I challenge him to try and live on minimum wage like Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor Cathy Cummings has done.”

Recently, Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor Cathy Cummings conducted “The Living Wage Experiment” where she and her husband tried to live on minimum wage for 30 days. They encountered many difficult situations such as not having enough cash at the grocery store and saving gas by biking to work across highways in Oklahoma City.

You can see their journey on Facebook.