Bill Shorten Quotes

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

The minimum wage is the black teenage unemployment act. It is the guaranteed way of holding the poor, the minorities and the disenfranchised out of the mainstream is if you price their original services too high.

There are very few people at the decision-making table to argue for minimum-wage workers. Very few people.

“A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work,” is as just a demand as governed men ever made of governing; yet in what corner of this planet was that ever realized?

If you're making $10 an hour and you're doing your job and you're doing it well and your check is consistently $8.75 an hour, who wouldn't stand up for themselves?

I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work.

The value of the minimum wage shouldn't be eroded, and it has been.

As we move beyond Women's History Month, I am committed to advancing legislation to raise the minimum wage and ensure women are paid equally for equal work.

The state of Alaska has a minimum wage which is higher than the federal level because our state leaders have made that determination.

Most arguments for instituting or raising a minimum wage are based on fairness and redistribution. Even if workers are getting a competitive wage, many of us are deeply disturbed that some hard-working families still have very little.

We have to get very militant with some of these employers to say there's no shortcuts, our people have a right to a fair day's wage for a fair day's pay, and we've got to get that done. And that's going to happen.

During Seattle's successful campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage, our opponents would sometimes roll their eyes and snort, 'If $15 is so good, why not $50?' It was a straw man argument: Nobody was proposing a $50 minimum wage; it would have been too high, and we said so.

It is time this Congress listened to the American people and minimum-wage workers, and it is time that we act.

We have to raise the minimum wage.

Congress has not raised the minimum wage since 1997. The minimum wage is now at its lowest level in 50 years adjusted for inflation.

Raising the minimum wage means we have workers paying more in to support the Social Security system.

We never accept low wages as the driving force for employment or growth.

I am always astonished that conservatives want to save money by paying workers less—driving down the wages of working people.

We can afford to pay workers fairly, and it is the right thing to do. We also need equal pay for equal work.

Establishing a 'livable wage' floor would immediately reduce the gap in average pay between American women and men.

When I travel around the country and talk about the need to raise the minimum wage or expand access to paid leave, I often talk about the need for us to reject false choices.

I've been very outspoken that the minimum wage needs to rise.

I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage.

I think the Fight for 15 is a great fight. I think, unfortunately, depending how the Congress works out, we may have to get there in increments.

At a time when families are incredibly squeezed, it's essential that we provide a living wage for people who work hard and that women realize equal pay for the work they're doing.