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New ‘Allies’ on Minimum Wage—Can You Trust a Reformed Politician? |
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California Gov. Arnold “I’ve vetoed a minimum wage raise twice” Schwarzenegger (R) and the Republican-dominated Ohio Legislature are the latest unusual advocates of a higher minimum wage. Last week we told you about traditionally anti-minimum wage Michigan state Senate members who suddenly embraced raising that state’s minimum wage by 44 percent. (BTW, this week the state House of Representatives went along with this raise bill and it is now on its way to Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D).
These sudden changes of heart likely aren’t from a group epiphany about the justness of fair wages but from the absolute fear of voter backlash. Polls show 75 percent of Michiganders back a higher minimum wage. In California, a November 2005 poll showed 62 percent of Republicans and 73 percent of all voters backed a minimum wage increase, says California Labor Federation lobbyist Angie Wei.
In several states, including Arizona, California, Michigan and Ohio, AFL-CIO state federations, working family advocates and community allies are working to put minimum wage ballot initiatives on the November ballot. Arnold and the state legislators face re-election and fear if minimum wage backers turn out in huge numbers in November to vote for ballot initiatives, they might just decide it’s time for a change in their state capitols and congressional delegations, too.
The minimum wage increase approved by the Ohio Legislature wasn’t much, just boosting the pay to $5.15 an hour matching the stagnant federal wage level. But Ohio House Speaker John Husted (R) was honest when asked why long-time opponents of raising the minimum wage were reversing their course. He said the minimum wage issue likely will drive up Democratic turnout on Election Day and Republicans have to “take the issue off the table.”
In an opinion piece for the Capitol Weekly, a newspaper that covers California government and politics, Wei writes
Even the governor, after a year in which he championed an anti-worker agenda, now recognizes the popular appeal of increasing the minimum wage.
In Maryland, where Gov. Robert Erlich (R) in 2005—a non-election year—vetoed a minimum wage increase passed by state lawmakers, the Maryland Legislature in January voted to override the veto, raising the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.15.
The federal minimum wage has been set at $5.15 an hour since1997. In terms of real dollar value, the minimum wage is at its lowest level ever. Republican congressional leaders and the Bush White House have bottled up several attempts to boost the federal minimum wage level.
Most Americans know its time to do something “to ensure that low-wage workers receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work,” says state Rep. James Marzilli (D), sponsor of a Massachusetts bill to raise that state’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour and protect it against erosion by indexing it to inflation.
Along with legislative action in several states, there could be as many as 11 minimum wage ballot initiatives this fall, including the Michigan, California and Arizona measures that call for indexing.
Business groups adamantly oppose indexing—the automatic raises take away their power to use their state lawmaker allies to roadblock minimum wage bills in legislatures. The increases, backed by the new wage converts Schwarzenegger and the Michiganders, don’t include the inflation protection.
But indexing sure seems like a good idea to regular people.
In Arizona, a recent poll shows 81 percent of respondents favor raising the state’s minimum wage and including a cost-of-living adjustment. The poll, by the Social Research Laboratory of the Northern Arizona University, also found just 14 percent of those questioned oppose the measure.
According to the Arizona Daily Star:
The strong support for a state minimum wage could spell trouble for the business community which is planning to oppose the initiative if organizers, backed by the state AFL-CIO, get the 122,612 signatures by July 6 to qualify for the ballot. Even Farrell Quinlan, spokesman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the traditional pro-business—and often anti-union—stance of many state residents may not keep them from imposing the new wage mandate.
In California, Wei says:
Increasing and indexing the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do,
it’s an immensely popular idea. Seventy-three percent of voters support an
increase in the minimum wage to $7.75 and indexing it to inflation.
Elsewhere on the minimum wage front, both houses of the West Virginia Legislature approved a limited minimum wage bill this month that increases the pay to $7.25 an hour
in two steps over two years. But it only applies to workers not covered by the federal law and to businesses with six or more employees with at least $500,000 in annual revenue. The West Virginia AFL-CIO estimates that about 2,000 out of the state’s 20,000 minimum wage workers will benefit. State federation leaders vowed to fight for a broader increase in the next legislative session.
In February, Rhode Island approved a minimum wage increase to $7.40 an hour by 2007. AFL-CIO working families and community groups also are mobilizing for minimum wage legislation in Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Vermont.
Along with Arizona, California and Michigan, ballot initiative drives are underway in Montana, Nevada and Ohio.
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