by Mike Hall, Mar 20, 2007

Low-wage workers in New Mexico are the next in line for a pay raise when Gov. Bill Richardson (D) signs what he calls the “crown jewel” in his legislative agenda—an increase in the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.50 over two years.

The bill passed the state Senate March 17 in a 22–20 vote with all 18 Republicans voting against it. Republican opposition shouldn’t come as a surprise. At the federal level, Republicans blocked raising the minimum wage for a decade when they held the majority. Now, the U.S. Senate Republican minority is using parliamentary maneuvers to hold hostage a bill that would boost the federal wage to $7.25 a hour unless it includes more than $8 billion in business tax breaks.

A decade of fierce Republican opposition to giving a raise to millions of the nation’s lowest-paid workers, coupled with the rapidly shrinking buying power of $5.15 an hour,  has spurred workers, activists and community groups to mobilize to raise the states’ minimum wage.

Working with ACORN and other community groups, the AFL-CIO’s America Needs a Raise campaign led the fight in 2006 that won minimum wage hikes through ballot initiatives in six states and through the legislative process in another 12 states.

So far in 2007, New Mexico and Iowa legislatures approved wage hikes. The Iowa bill, signed into law in February, raises the state minimum wage to $7.25 an hour by January 2008.

The six states where voters in 2006 raised the minimum wage through ballot initiatives:

• Arizona—$6.75 an hour
• Colorado—$6.85 an hour
• Missouri—$6.50 an hour (Click here for more on the Missouri wage and tipped workers.)
• Montana—$6.15 an hour
• Nevada—$6.15 an hour
• Ohio—$6.85 an hour

The 12 states where legislative action in 2006 raised the minimum wage (some take effect in two or more steps):

• Arkansas—$6.25 an hour
• California—$8 an hour
• Delaware—$7.15 an hour
• Illinois—$8.25 an hour
• Maine—$7 an hour
• Maryland—$6.15 an hour
• Massachusetts—$8 an hour
• Michigan—$7.40 an hour
• North Carolina—$6.15 an hour
• Pennsylvania—$7.15 an hour
• Rhode Island—$7.40 an hour
• West Virginia—$7.25 an hour
   
  

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