States
Take On Minimum Wage: Across U.S. Activists Push
Ballot Measures To Lift Workers' Pay
By
Joi Preciphs
Wall Street Journal, 3/14/06
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Activists
from Nevada to Ohio are working to increase the
minimum wage in their states, aiming to join 18
others that have set hourly pay higher than the
federal rate of $5.15.
The
moves come as President Bush and congressional
leaders remain opposed to federal legislation
that would lift the minimum wage for the first
time since 1997. But advocates hope the state
campaigns will strengthen the hand of the few
Republican members of Congress who back a higher
minimum wage -- and become a ballot issue that
helps Democrats pick up seats in certain swing
states during elections this November.
Business
groups are picking their battles with the campaigns
they are choosing to fight at the state and local
level, says Michael Keegan of the American Legislative
Exchange Council, a right-leaning group that organizes
against "living wage" campaigns. Some
groups have launched legal challenges to various
living-wage ordinances cities have imposed, while
others have lobbied state lawmakers to propose
pre-emptive legislation barring municipalities
from setting the higher wage floors.
At
least 130 municipalities and counties have initiated
living-wage campaigns since the late 1990, making
government contractors pay far above minimum wage.
Last year, more than 140 minimum-wage bills were
introduced in at least 42 states, the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics said in its January Monthly
Labor Review. Since January 2004, 11 states and
the District of Columbia have set their minimum
wages above the federal rate, with Maryland the
most recent addition. Voters in the swing state
of Florida last year approved a minimum wage increase
to $6.40 an hour.
In
Nevada, residents will vote in November on a constitutional
amendment to increase the state's minimum wage
to $6.15 an hour with annual cost-of-living adjustments.
In 2004, voters approved the initiative by 68%
to 32%, but constitutional amendments are required
to be voted on twice before becoming law.The Nevada
proposal wouldn't just raise the pay floor; it
also has an unusual provision that links wages
to health care. It would require businesses not
offering employees health coverage to pay an even
higher minimum wage than the $6.15 an hour that
would be required of all businesses. To continue
paying the $5.15 minimum wage, employers must
pay at least 90% of the cost of health insurance
for their employees and dependents. For all others,
the minimum wage will increase to $6.15 an hour
next January, and the new wage would be indexed
according to inflation at no more than 3% annually.
The
Rev. Paul Sherry, former president of the United
Church of Christ, is championing the minimum-wage
cause in his home state of Ohio and other states
for the National Council of Churches USA. More
than 300,000 signatures must be collected by August
to get a measure on the ballot this fall to raise
Ohio's minimum wage to $6.85 an hour, with future
inflation adjustments.
A
minimum wage boost in the closely divided state
of Ohio would mark a shift in the politics of
the issue. Currently, Ohio is one of two states
with a minimum wage below the federal level.
"People
recognize that the current minimum wage is really
insufficient for people to live on," says
Dr. Sherry, whose organization represents various
Protestant denominations. "Given the current
status of the minimum wage, so many people are
working hard and their families are remaining
in poverty." He will be part of a delegation
visiting Capitol Hill lawmakers this week.
Religious
conservatives, however, haven't joined the campaign.
"I would think that we're more apt to rely
on the free market," says David Miller, vice
president of Citizens for Community Values, a
Cincinnati group that organized conservative Christians
during the last presidential election. "When
you have the government tinkering with the free
market enterprise it's no longer free."
Public
opinion surveys indicate that raising the minimum
wage is a popular cause across the ideological
spectrum. In a Gallup Poll in November, more than
80% of Americans surveyed said they were in favor
of "Congress passing legislation that would
raise the minimum wage," with only 14% saying
they would disagree.
"This
issue is so popular among the entire public that
Republican voters don't even realize they're supposed
to vote against these initiatives," says
Kristina Wilfore, executive director of the Ballot
Initiative Strategy Center, a left-leaning umbrella
group backed by labor unions and financier George
Soros.
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