by Mike Hall, Jun 29, 2006

Nearly 210,000 Arizonans say it’s time to put a minimum wage increase on the November ballot—signing petitions to put the wage hike initiative before voters. The Arizona Minimum Wage Coalition submitted the petitions to state officials this week.

Coalition volunteers collected 90,000 more signatures than needed for the initiative to qualify for the ballot. If approved, the measure will increase the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.75 in 2007 and protect against inflation with annual adjustments pegged to the cost of living.

The AFL-CIO America Needs a Raise campaign is leading the drive to raise the minimum wage in the states through legislation or ballot initiatives like the one in Arizona―while Republican leaders in Congress continue to roadblock efforts to raise it on the federal level.

The Arizona group turned in their petitions a few days after Republicans killed a U.S. Senate measure that would have increased the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25, but without the cost-of-living indexing protections. (Read about Senate Democrats’ threat to kill a congressional pay raise unless the minimum wage is increased.)

Says Rebekah Friend, president of the Arizona State AFL-CIO and chairwoman of the Minimum Wage Coalition:

I would have liked to have seen Congress do it, but we knew we’d have to do it at the state level.

Activists in five other states are backing minimum wage ballot initiatives—all with cost-of-living indexing protection. Missouri and Montana activists have submitted signatures to put the issue on the ballot. The measure has qualified in Nevada, and activists in Colorado and Ohio continue to gather signatures.

In addition, there may be more action in the states this week. In Delaware, a bill passed by both houses to raise the minimum wage to $7.15 an hour is on the desk of Gov. Ruth Ann Miner (D), who is expected to sign it. Last week, the Massachusetts House put off consideration of a wage bill but may take it up this week.

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