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Wage hike would hurt, not help Pros and cons of a higher minimum wage Poll finds Arizonans support raising minimum wage

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Minimum-wage workers in this country could use a raise, but Congress and the Legislature have been unwilling to give them one.

Since lawmakers won't take the responsibility, the voters of Arizona should support putting a minimum-wage increase on the November ballot.

Amid reports of a widening income gap in America and increasingly unaffordable rents, our national and state leaders have refused to raise the minimum wage, which has been at $5.15 per hour since 1997.

A story by Jane Erikson in Monday's Star on the widening income gap in America cited "Pulling Apart," a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute that revealed wealthy families saw huge increases in their incomes over two decades, while middle-class and poor families saw modest incremental gains.

A December report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which showed that the cost of rental housing has increased faster than wages, found that in our community, a family would need a wage of $14.35 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

But national and state lawmakers haven't done a thing to put more money in the pockets of many of our hardest-working individuals.

In Arizona, Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, has for the fourth year written a bill to increase the minimum wage. The previous three bills never received a hearing in the Republican-controlled House and the current bill is languishing, seemingly destined for the same fate.

On the federal level, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has led efforts to raise the minimum wage. His most recent efforts were shot down last March and again in November.

The best hope for Arizona to raise the minimum wage may be an initiative on the November ballot being pushed by the Arizona Minimum Wage Coalition.

The initiative, which has the support of the AFL-CIO, would raise the state's minimum wage to $6.75 — an extra $1.60 per hour, or $64 more for a 40-hour week.

Just as important, the minimum wage in the future would be tied to inflation, so as costs rise, so would pay. The initiative would exempt businesses with revenues of less than $500,000 a year from paying the higher wage.

Rebekah Friend, president of the AFL-CIO in Arizona, said the group is "more than halfway" to its goal of getting enough signatures to put the initiative on the ballot. The law requires 122,612 signatures by July 6, but the group's goal is 188,000 to buffer against disqualified signatures.

Bob Schwartz, chairman of the Five Fifteen Isn't Working coalition in Tucson, one of the groups supporting the initiative, said studies show businesses wouldn't be hurt by having to pay the higher wage.

"What we have seen is that minimum-wage increases can lower turnover, lower training costs and increase productivity. When people aren't making a decent wage, they don't stick around and they call in sick more often."

Farrell Quinlan, a spokesman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services in November that when you increase wages at the bottom, there's more pressure to hike wages up the line, which would increase the cost of doing business.

Jack Camper, president of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, said the minimum wage is not intended to meet the needs of a typical family. He also said pay should be set at the federal level. "We don't need 50 different minimum wages. Even some cities have their own minimum wage."

Former state senator Tom Patterson, chairman of the Goldwater Institute, said raising the minimum wage could hurt high school dropouts, illegal entrants and other people who rely on low-wage jobs.

But those arguments haven't dissuaded 16 other states — including California, Oregon and Washington — from passing laws mandating a higher minimum wage than required by federal law. The better wage seems to be working for them.

They've given their poorer citizens a boost in the wallet. Arizona should have a chance to do the same.