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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen Martin Heinrich was in seventh grade, he learned a lesson about labor relations. His mother worked in a non-union auto-supply factory; when management informed the workers that their hours were going to shift from five days a week to six, there wasn\u2019t much they could do. When they then moved to seven days a week\u2014the new schedule was three weeks on and one week off\u2014there still wasn\u2019t much the workforce could do in response. They were living in the tiny town of Cole Camp, Missouri, and Missouri was, his parents knew, hardly over-protective of workers\u2019 rights. Martin\u2019s mom lost her weekends, and her son ended up having to keep order in the house, cooking and cleaning for the rest of the family.<\/p>\n
Heinrich\u2019s dad, by contrast, was a unionized lineman\u2014one of the front-liners called to duty when big storms swept in through the mid-west and knocked down power lines. When his employers needed him to work long hours, he was paid overtime. \u201cHe had a contract, and he had respect,\u201d Heinrich remembers three decades later, as he explains why labor issues have remained so important to him as he has climbed his way up the political ladder, from the Albuquerque, New Mexico city council to the U.S. House of Representatives, and, this past November, to the United States Senate.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why he went to bat for a higher minimum wage in Albuquerque when he was a councilman, and it\u2019s why, as a freshman senator, he has been pushing for a hike in the federal minimum wage.<\/p>\n