Photo Credit: Jodie Gummow
January 24, 2014
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After years of hard times and recent organizing by growing
coalitions of worker organizations and progressive groups, 2014 may see
some of the biggest state minimum wage increases in years.
In 2013, 13 states and handful of cities
raised
the legal hourly minimum wage after those locales saw campaigns uniting
low-wage workers, unions, clergy and Democrats. While most of these
increases did not raise wages above the $9 rate for hourly workers, they
still
increased paychecks for an estimated 4.5 million workers—
mostly women—and should
inject an extra $2.7 billion into their pockets this year, economists said.
This
year a mix of elected Democrats and seasoned organizers are seriously
pushing for even bigger increases in a dozen states including
Massachusetts, Maryland, Hawaii, Illinois, Arkansas, Alaska, South
Dakota and California. According to analysts, these and other states are
likely to raise their minimum wages, either from legislative action in
coming months or from votes on statewide ballot questions where
Democrats are
betting that the issue will lead to higher turnout and be a factor in congressional races.
This
growing momentum is apart from stalled minimum wage bills in Congress
to raise the current federal minimum wage, now at $7.25 per hour, to
$10.10. While President Obama is expected to make inequality the
centerpiece of his 2014 State of the Union speech next week, his
previous calls for raising the wage have been ignored by House
Republicans. That political stalemate shifts the focus back to the
states.
“This year we are going to see far more meaningful
measures passed at the state level,” said Jack Temple, a policy analyst
with the
National Employment Law Project.
“A lot of states are going for at least $10 an hour, or in some cases
$11 an hour. Last year, we saw states raising their minimum wages for
the first time since the recession.”
“It remains to be seen if
these measures will be turnout drivers in 2014, but past research we
commissioned in 2006 showed that minimum wage ballot questions increased
voter turnout among Democratic and swing voters,” said Justine Sarver,
executive director of the
Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.
“Minimum wage increases appeared on the ballot in seven states
[Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio] in 2004
and 2006. All of these measures passed, with five receiving more than
65 percent.”
This populist progression will unfold in a series of
steps
at state legislatures in coming months, in ballot questions legislators
may put before voters, and in ballot campaigns where sponsors gather
qualifying petition signatures, especially if lawmakers don’t act.
“Raising
it to $10 a hour on its own is not a one-stop fix for solving poverty,”
Temple said. “But raising the minimum wage is one of the most urgent
steps that states can take to boost living standards for low-wage
workers.”
Many Paths To Action
The new year has seen several incumbent Democratic governors (
Hawaii,
Illinois,
Minnesota and
Maryland)
saying that their legislatures should raise their state minimum wage
above the federal floor of $7.25 an hour, which was last raised in 2009.
(The federal minimum wage for
tipped workers, $2.13 an hour, was last raised in 1991.)
Those
governors, some facing re-election this year, will join other states
where legislators will be considering minimum wage hikes in coming
months. In Hawaii, for example, a key state senator who opposed a larger
increase last year is now supporting it—as he is running for governor
against the incumbent, said Drew Astolfi, state director of
Faith Action for Community Equity Hawaii.
“In
Hawaii, we have the highest cost of living of any state, but the
minimim wage has been stagnant for many years,” he said. “Many people
here work two jobs to get by. The second one is minimum wage.”
In Michigan, the 2014 Democratic candidate for governor has
called
for raising the wage, but the legislature has not acted on wage
increases, he said. In the meantime, organizers are planning to launch a
ballot campaign, which also is what Idaho activists are doing, hoping
their legislature will act but not counting on it.
“Idaho is in a crisis,” said
Raise Idaho’s
Anne Nesse. “We have the lowest per capita wages in the United States
according to the Department of Labor, and we lead the nation in in the
percentage (7.7 percent) of minimum wage jobs. Many citizens are working
for $8.00 per hour as well, or $9.00…. The initiative law that we are
fighting for is modest in a cold hard-to-survive in environment.”
Some
states don’t have the option of pursuing ballot campaigns. In Maryland,
organizers will revive the issue after its defeat last year and have
been lobbying key lawmakers for months. Earlier this week, Democratic
Gov. Martin O’Malley
said
raising the wage to $10.10 by 2016 was his top priority, but his
Senate’s Democratic president had doubts. In New Mexico, organizers are
hoping
its legislators will put a statewide increase on the fall ballot, after
Albuquerque raised its wage last year. Bills have also been introduced
in at least four other states—New Hampshire, West Virginia, Delaware and
Rhode Island—NELP’s Temple said.
In other states, a two-track
process is unfolding at the statehouse and with petition drives. In
Massachusetts, activists submitted enough petition signatures to get the
legislature to take up the issue. But if they don’t pass a strong
enough proposal, or add unacceptable items to that legislation, then
organizers can collect more signatures and put their ballot proposal
before voters, said Lewis Finter,
Massachusetts Communities Action Network
director. “The Senate passed a good bill,” he said. “Our House of
Representatives hasn’t taken it up yet… our House Speaker… said he
wanted to add some ‘reforms.’”
Then there are efforts in
ballot initiative states where organizers are all but certain to turn in
enough qualifying petitions to put the question before voters. Alaska
will vote on its wage increase next August, the
same time
a marijuana legalization question will be on the ballot. In Arkansas
and South Dakota, organizers are collecting signatures, Temple said. In
addition, there’s a ballot campaign in Washington, DC, to raise their
wage to $12.50, index it for inflation and increase the minimum wage for
tipped workers. The District’s City Council raised their wage to $11.50
late last year, but left out tipped workers, he said, prompting the
renewed campaign.
In Chicago’s upcoming March primary elections,
voters will be asked if the city should require employers with annual
gross revenue above $50 million—meaning Walmart, McDonald’s, Walgreens
and others—to pay $15 an hour. “We’re confident that this referendum is
sparking a serious and urgent conversation about why the city of
Chicago, and all levels of government, must tackle growing inequality
and the poverty crisis by the wages of low-income workers, said Scott
Vogel, a spokesman for the
Raise Chicago coalition and SEIU Healthcare Illinois.
In California, where the legislature raised the wage last year to $9 an hour, a maverick entrepreneur
known
for anti-immigrant stances is sponsoring an initiative to raise it to
$12. Silicon Valley multi-millionaire and ex-gubernatorial candidate Ron
Unz
said
a higher minimum wage would make people less dependent on state welfare
programs and would make current low-wage farmwork more attractive to
U.S. citizens.
Motivating Voter Turnout
But
for most of the country, the issue is being driven by progressive
coalitions, including labor unions, social workers, clergy and
Democrats. Democrats are hoping the campaigns will motivate voters who
typically sit out of non-presidential year elections to vote this fall.
New York Rep. Steve Israel, who chairs the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee has
said a dozen House races could see higher turnout based on the issue.
“Ballot
measures can be used to create enthusiasm for voting, particularly in
midterm elections where many important voters such as women, young
people and people of color are less likely to turn out,” said Sarver of
the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. “We think voters will support
these initiatives.”
Nationwide polls taken last summer by Hart Research Associates
found
80 percent of Americans—a mix of Democrats, Independents and
Republicans—backed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and
adusting it for the cost of living in future years. Senate Democrats and
the Obama admininistration have called on Congress to increase it to
that amount, which would be a dollar higher than most of the state-based
raises in 2013. However, that proposal has not gone anywhere in recent
years.
Hart’s polling found that candidates who embrace raising
the minimum wage will get a big reward from voters, Temple said, saying
the issue was a “candidate differentiator” that increased a candidate’s
support by 36 percent. But that was only if a candidate actively
campaigned on the issue and constantly reminded voters of his or her
stance.
“This doesn’t work like magic,” Temple said. “You don’t
just put it on the ballot and have voters rush out and support it. A
candidate has to really lean into this. If they think this will drive
voter turnout, the crucial piece will be if they link themselves to this
issue.”
Steven Rosenfeld covers
democracy issues for AlterNet and is the author of "Count My Vote: A
Citizen's Guide to Voting" (AlterNet Books, 2008).
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