March 7 Calls needed: Act Now to Increase the Minimum Wage

ADA ACTION ALERT
Act Now to Increase the Minimum Wage

March 4, 2005

On Monday, March 7, there will be a debate in the U. S. Senate on increasing the federal minimum wage. The Senate will be considering two competing versions of a minimum wage increase.

Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) has offered an amendment to raise the federal minimum wage, in stages, to $7.25. Sen. Santorum (R-PA) has offered an amendment to raise the federal minimum wage to $6.25. And Sen. Santorum's amendment also includes changes in labor law that will result in the loss of overtime pay for many workers and, in fact, may actually remove some workers now given minimum wage and overtime protection from coverage under these laws.

The last time the minimum wage was increased was Sept. 1997, to its current $5.15/hour. That's almost 8 years ago. At this time, the value of the minimum wage is at its second lowest level in the last 45 years. The Kennedy proposal would lift the minimum wage to $7.25 by the middle of 2007; it would help 7.5 million working Americans to feed their families, pay their rent, continue their schooling. This is a modest increase considering the length of time since the last increase. Without it, minimum wage workers will just fall further and further down the income scale. It is not a proposal that will harm small business employers. Never in the history of minimum wage increases has anyone been able to show economic damage from modest increases in the minimum wage.

The Santorum proposed minimum wage increase to $6.25 will leave 5.5 million workers behind - because it will only reach 1.8 million workers compared to the Kennedy proposed increase of $7.25. And as the value of the minimum wage continues to fall, anything less than a $7.25 increase is simply not enough. The Santorum proposal, in addition to its inadequate minimum wage increase, also calls for changes in labor law that will

- change the overtime rule from 40 hours/week to 80 hours over two weeks, allowing employers to schedule a 50 hour work-week one week and a 30 hour week the next without having to pay any overtime;

- change the definition of which employers are required to pay minimum wage, thus exempting their employees from minimum wage coverage.

Please make a call to your Senators' offices and urge them to support a decent increase in the federal minimum wage (to $7.25) and oppose the inadequate $6.25 increase which comes in a package of damaging changes to the nation's labor laws.

YOUR CALLS MUST BE MADE ON MONDAY, MARCH 7TH TO BE EFFECTIVE.

Living Wage / From Economic Policy Institute
Posted by David Swanson on Mar 04, 2005 - 03:48 PM
Santorum Min. Wage Proposal Worse Than Nothing
By EPI, ILCA Associate Member

The minimum wage amendment proposed by Sen. Rick Santorum, which is expected to come to a vote on Monday, would harm far more workers than it helps.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that a straightforward raise of $1.10 in the minimum wage could directly benefit, at most, about 1.8 million workers.

The Santorum proposal, however, is anything but straightforward. Other provisions would take away minimum wage eligibility, overtime rights, and would overrule higher state standards for workers who earn tips. Many millions of workers would stand to lose pay and protections to which current law entitles them.

· WEAKENING FLSA COVERAGE: Employees of businesses with revenues of more than $500,000 and all workers who engage in interstate commerce now have important protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act, such as the right to be paid a minimum wage and to receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a week. The Santorum amendment eliminates FLSA protections for all workers at businesses with revenues up to $1,000,000. In 1997, 6.8 million employees worked at firms with revenues of between $500,000 and $1 million.

· CUTTING OVERTIME PAY: The amendment abolishes the 40-hour work week and replaces it with an 80-hour, two-week work period. Today, those who work 50 hours in one week and 30 the next receive 10 hours of time-and-a-half overtime pay. Under the amendment, such workers would no longer get overtime pay, making mandatory overtime cheaper for employers. This change encourages employers to overwork employees in busy periods and cut their hours when things are less busy—leaving workers less able to control their work hours and to balance work and family. Construction workers, for example, whose work hours often vary from week to week, will be particularly hard hit. Currently about 100 million workers are eligible to receive overtime pay.

· WORKING FOR TIPS ONLY: The Santorum amendment forces states and local governments to adopt a 100% tip credit. In other words, employers will be allowed, under state law, to pay nothing to tipped employees, as long as their tips from customers add up to the minimum wage. In convoluted language, the Santorum amendment prohibits states and local governments from enforcing any state or local minimum wage law or ordinance that requires any part of tipped employees’ wages to be paid in cash by the employer. Even states that have eliminated the tip credit entirely, and that require restaurant workers and other tipped employees to be paid the minimum wage by their employers, will have their laws overridden by the Santorum amendment. Tipped employees include a wide range of workers such as taxi drivers, porters, hotel cleaning staff, and the like. Restaurant wait staff alone currently number about 2 million.

· WEAKENING SAFETY & OTHER PROTECTIONS: The Santorum amendment excuses millions of employers from paying fines for violations of federal safety and health, pension, and labor regulations. First violations of “information collection requirements” – even if knowing and willful – will be excused for the more than 5 million businesses with revenues under $7 million a year. Information collection requirements include a broad class of notices and postings required in order to inform and protect employees, such as hazardous material warnings, training requirements, and information about pension and health benefit plans.

To view EPI’s Minimum Wage Issue Guide, click here.

For interviews and information, contact Nancy Coleman, Karen Conner, or Stephaan Harris at 202-775-8810. For more on current EPI releases and to sign up to receive releases on your beat, visit our online Newsroom. For how to describe EPI, click here.

If the hyperlinks (above) don't work, copy and paste these addresses into your browser:
Minimum Wage Issue Guide: http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguides_minwage_minwage
Newsroom: http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/newsroom_index
Describing EPI: http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/newsroom_describing_epi

The Economic Policy Institute is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute – or “think tank” – that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States and around the world.

Economic Policy Institute
Communications Department
1660 L Street, N.W. Suite 1200
Washington, D.C. 20036

This article is from ILCA Online
http://www.ilcaonline.org/

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David Swanson wrote me and asked that we help get it passed around quickly.

Though any raise in the minimum is welcome, even $7.25 doesn't come close to parity for hours-spent-in-classroom-seat versus professionals.

$20 per hour or therabouts does.

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expense? Your argument appears to me to argue for lowering the minimum wage, not raising it.

I didn't say a 20 per hour was realistic or politically doable. Everyone wants your local day laborer and lawn mower to know American history, calculus, perfect written and verbal English, etc. But 20 per hour is appropriate adult compensation for the hours the state required them to sit in class versus what professionals extract from the market in compensation.

There is something seriously wrong with the educational or financial system when the market doesn't value the knowledge imparted in compulsory education.

5.15 an hour is embarassing for our country and hurts so many of the working poor, they need our help, I will make those calls.

:kick:

n/t