THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Poverty is ugly, so much so that most of us choose to look the other way when we encounter it. Now, in an effort to get something done, as well as bring it into the view of the Congress, the Federal contract workers in the Capitol and other location plan a strike.

Federal contract workers at the U.S. Capitol and other high profile locations in Washington planned to go on a one-day strike Thursday, pushing for higher wages and collective bargaining rights.

The food service workers at the Capitol and Pentagon will be joined by workers at the National Air and Space Museum and the National Zoo as well as Union Station, a major Washington train station.

The protest is aimed at President Barack Obama, designed to press him for an executive order to contractors paid by the federal government to provide services such as food courts in government buildings.

“This is (Obama’s) opportunity to help workers that he’s responsible for and that he can have an effect on and improve their working conditions,” said Paco Fabian, the communications director for Change to Win, a labor organization taking part in the strike.

In February, Obama signed an executive order boosting the minimum wage for federal contractors from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour. In late July, the administration issued another executive order requiring prospective federal contractors to disclose past labor law violations.

The hike to $10.10 per hour will be effective on Jan. 1. After 2015, the U.S. labor secretary will determine raises in the wage floor on a yearly basis.

But some labor groups and wage hike advocates say more executive action is needed.

“Nobody is going to get lifted out of poverty on $10.10 an hour,” Fabian said.

One of those planning to strike Thursday was Reginald Lewis Sr., 50, of Hyattsville, Md., a dishwasher at the Capitol. Although he makes $12 per hour, he says the area’s high cost of living is challenging to keep up with.

“I’m barely making it to get to work and back home,” Lewis said.

In a city where even Congress members whine about not being paid enough, it should be a major embarrassment that those serving the high and mighty are lucky if they make ends meet. And it is a bad idea to keep them there, you never know who will spit in the soup.