Article reporting labor leaders' sharp criticism of President Richard Nixon's veto of a minimum wage increase bill. Bayard Rustin, representing the A. Philip Randolph Institute, strongly condemns the veto as harmful to working poor Americans, describing it as part of a broader pattern of neglect by the Nixon administration towards Black workers and low-income communities. The article captures the urgency and mobilization among civil rights and labor leaders to lobby Congress for an override.
The veto of the minimum wage bill in 1973 occurred amid rising inflation and economic hardship for low-wage workers, particularly affecting African Americans and other marginalized groups. Rustin and other activists framed the bill as a critical component of economic justice within the broader civil rights struggle, advocating for policies that would lift working-class Americans out of poverty. This moment highlights Rustin’s ongoing engagement with labor rights and economic equity as key elements of civil rights activism in the 1970s.
“Nixon Veto Blasted.” Afro-American Newspaper, September 22, 1973. https://afro.com/nixon-veto-blasted/.
