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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOFCS! States Move to Roll Back City Minimum-Wage Raises
Moyers just posted this old article on Fb. In case you missed it.
This post first appeared at The Nation.
Last August, after a campaign led by a coalition of labor advocates and neighborhood organizations, Birmingham became the first city in the Deep South to raise its minimum wage. The increase was relatively modest it sought to raise the citys pay floor incrementally from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour by 2017 but after six years without a national minimum-wage boost, supporters celebrated the move as an essential step in lifting the citys working poor out of poverty.
Soon after the ordinance passed, minimum-wage initiatives began to gain momentum in two other Alabama cities, Tuscaloosa and Huntsville. These efforts were followed by proposals for wage hikes in the cities of Selma and Mobile. The movement to lift local minimum wages, which had recently won high-profile victories in places like Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago, was beginning to spread throughout one of Americas reddest states.
This did not sit well with Republicans in Alabamas legislature, however. A month after the Birmingham vote, conservative members of Alabamas House of Representatives began eyeing a bill that would prohibit cities from setting their own minimum wages ....
We passed ours in Oregon this year, via the legislature because we are all blue here, to near $15. I really like this idea of city elections for raising thew minimum wage. It brings a specific electorate to the polls, the Rs biggest fear! We need as many of these as possible before the fall election. There is still plenty of time.
liberal N proud
(60,349 posts)These are the sort of actions they have in mind.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)samrock
(590 posts)All the red states have a $7.25 minimum wage and all the blue states have $15.00 one?
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Everyone smart enough to get a job moves, they are stuck with what is left over!
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)You know, because THAT'S an amazing economic idea.
10.10 an hour isn't even an inflation correction. You'd have to hit at least $11 for that.
yardwork
(61,736 posts)While demonizing transgender people, the NC State Legislature just passed HB2, a very broad, far-reaching bill that, among other things, makes it impossible for any city or municipality to increase the minimum wage higher than the state's rules. The bill - passed and signed by the governor in just one day, with no time for review or public input - also makes it impossible for citizens to sue in state court for any kind of discrimination.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Of course, we need another SC Justice so the USA remains a nation under one set of laws.