The Durham Association of Educators (DAE) is pushing for a $15 minimum wage for all Durham County Public School staff.

“Durham Public School classified staff are the very last group of public employees in Durham County who do not earn at least $15/hour,” reads a DAE letter to members and allies. “This is an economic and racial injustice, and DAE calls on the County Commission to take immediate action to correct this injustice through a supplemental budget allocation for Durham Public Schools.”

The DAE letter says that Durham Public Schools staff are “frontline workers” who deserve hazard pay. It also states that “Budgets are moral documents.”

The letter cites remarks made in June by Durham Commissioner Wendy Jacobs about raising wages. Jacobs said that “this is how we address institutional racism – by investing in the people in our community…by making this a budget priority.”

Durham County Commissioners are set to meet today, Nov. 23. The $15 minimum wage item does not appear to be on the agenda.

Read the full DAE $15 minimum wage letter.

Assisting the DAE’s call for an across the board $15 wage is the Triangle Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a group affiliated with Antifa.

SURJ’s main campaign this year has been to “organize white people to undermine white supremacy.”