The minimum-wage ballot debate By McClatchy Washington Bureau, adapted by Newsela staff Oct. 06, :00 AM

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The minimum-wage ballot debate

By McClatchy Washington Bureau, adapted by Newsela staff Oct. 06, 2014 1:00 AM

Fast-food workers including Keonna Gardner (center) went on strike to demand $15-an-hour wages and the right to form a union. The protest, held outside of a McDonald’s at 14th St. and Prospect Ave., Kansas City, Missouri, on Sept. 4, 2014, resulted in the arrest of 52 protesters who blocked the streets, including the off ramp from eastbound Interstate 70 at Prospect.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama has wanted an increase in the federal minimum wage for a while, but he’s not likely to get it anytime soon. Still, advocates hope that public support for the issue gets a boost from an unusual set of states this Election Day.

Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota—four red states that lean toward the Republican party and whose voters often oppose the president’s agenda—might be next to raise the wages of America’s lowest-paid hourly workers. On Nov. 4, they will vote on ballot measures to increase their minimum wages. When a minimum-wage law is passed, employers must pay workers at least that amount.

Some advocates hope that victories on the ballot, especially in four Republican strongholds, will change the national economic debate.

“It becomes a lot harder for members of Congress who might not support these kinds of things to continually say no’ when it comes up in Washington,” said Josh Levin, a vice president at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. The group leans toward the Democratic side of issues and focuses

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on state ballot measures.

Fast-Food Workers Led The Way

The minimum wage has gained a lot of attention this year.

Earlier this month, fast-food workers across the country participated in a strike in favor of a $15-per-hour “livable” wage. Such pay would be more than double the current federal floor of $7.25. The Seattle City Council passed a $15 hourly rate in June, and some activists are pushing that figure elsewhere in Washington state.

The ballot measures in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota would bring about much smaller increases. But that doesn’t bother Steve Copley, chairman of the Give Arkansas a Raise Now coalition.

“Every penny that somebody who is working hard can get helps,” Copley said.

Activists must be realistic about what increases they push for at the polls, said Peggy Shorey, the director of state government relations at the AFL-CIO. The labor group’s state organizations support the ballot initiatives.

“Arkansas is not the same as Seattle,” she said.

The current $6.25-per-hour state minimum wage makes Arkansas one of three states whose hourly pay floor is lower than that of the federal government. Only Georgia and Wyoming are lower, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Wage Differences In Some States

Last year, about 91,000 workers earned the federal minimum wage or below in the four states with November ballot proposals, according to the government. However, thousands more would be affected as the state wage floors rose gradually.

All four state proposals would begin wage increases Jan. 1. But there are differences in how the states would link the minimum wage to increases in the cost of living.

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Not everyone agrees to tying annual increases to changes in CPI. Opponents in South Dakota say it’s one of their biggest concerns of the ballot proposal there.

Ten states, including Florida and Washington, have minimum wages legally tied to CPI measures, according to the Department of Labor. New Jersey will join them in January. The District of Columbia, Minnesota and Michigan are scheduled to follow in upcoming years.

Copley said such a measure would not have passed in Arkansas.

Instead, the minimum hourly rates would top off at $8.50 per hour in 2017 in Arkansas. It would stop at $9 per hour in 2016 in Nebraska under their ballot proposals.

Labor Unions Weigh In

Former Alaska labor commissioner Ed Flanagan supports a wage increase. He said the Alaskan campaign had benefited from a big labor union presence. At 23.1 percent of the state’s wage and salary workers, Alaska’s union membership rate is more than double the national rate, according to the government. Unions organize groups of workers from the same trade, such as steelworkers or nurses, and together they negotiate the terms of their employment, including pay and hours. It might be an uphill battle for wage increase opponents before people vote.

“Our polls would indicate we have a lot of work to do to educate people on some of our concerns,” said Michael Held. He works for the South Dakota Farm Bureau, which opposes that state’s proposal to raise the minimum wage.

In August, 58 percent of surveyed potential Alaskan voters supported the state initiative there, according to a Democratic polling firm.

A poll in Arkansas taken in April found that 79 percent of surveyed Arkansas voters supported their state’s ballot initiative.

The Arkansas campaign doesn’t need a strong state labor presence to be successful, said Jay Barth. The political science professor at Hendrix College helped craft and analyze the April poll.

“Arkansas has more of a populist tradition than some of the other Southern states that are more conservative on economic issues,” Barth said.

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Federal Rate Versus State Rate

Five Southern states—South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama—have no state minimum wage at all. Instead, they have employers follow the federal rate.

Shorey, with the AFL-CIO, said she thought successful ballot measures in November could help families and change the national discussion on the minimum wage debate.

If Republican states pass minimum wage increases, it shows that the issue does not have to split the two parties, she said.

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Quiz

1. Between Peggy Shorey and Jay Barth, who is likely to have a more objective opinion on the higher minimum wage debate? Why?

(a) Barth - Being a professor, he is more qualified than Shorey.

(b) Barth - He has no political gain or loss to make from the final decision. (c) Shorey - Her position in the state government allows her access to more data. (d) Shorey - In her quote, she seems equally concerned about the welfare of all states.

2. Who should the president approach if he wanted to discuss his thoughts on the minimum-wage ballot with someone who shares his views on it?

(a) Steve Copley (b) Jay Barth

(c) Peggy Shorey (d) Michael Held

3. Based on the information in the article and in the graphic, in what ways are Seattle and Washington, D.C., similar?

(a) Both D.C and Seattle pay their workers the same minimum wage.

(b) D.C. and Seattle pay their workers lower wages than the federal minimum wage. (c) D.C. and Seattle pay workers higher minimum wages than their neighboring states. (d) D.C. and Seattle pay their workers more than $10 an hour as theminimum wage.

4. If the map in the graphic were to be divided into four parts, which part would be LEAST affected by the changes in the minimum-wage law? Why?

(a) the top left part - because a majority of these states have higher-than-federal minimum wages

(b) the bottom right part - because a majority of these states do not have a minimum-wage law

(c) the bottom left part - because they have one state that controls the vote for the minimum-wage law

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Answer Key