The minimum wage is getting maximum coverage these days.
On the presidential campaign trail, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has pressed fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton to endorse the $15 minimum wage.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo created the Fast Food Wage Board this past spring after the state legislature failed to act on the wage increase – and, in July, the board recommended that the state’s minimum wage, which is currently $8.75 an hour, gradually rise to $15 over the next three years in New York City, and over the next six years across the rest of the state.
Meanwhile, social media has been ratcheting up the grassroots effort nationwide, with rallies that have sent “#Fightfor15″and “#15now”trending.
The federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 since 2009, when it was raised from $5.15. Since then, many states have taken the task of hiking minimum-wage requirements into their own hands. These wages can vary greatly from state to state – from $5.15 in Georgia and Wyoming, to $9.47 in Washington.
However, as the public debate over raising the minimum wage spreads throughout the U.S., cities such as Los Angeles, St. Louis and Birmingham, Ala., have gotten into the act recently by implementing their own citywide minimum wages, arguing that state and federal wages are too low for urban workers, due to the higher cost of living in metro areas.
Also, in Seattle, shortly after taking office, Mayor Edward Murray formed the Income Inequality Advisory Committee to address the issue of compensation for those who work within the city. The committee – comprised of labor, business and non-profits – agreed to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, to be phased in over several years.
For some states, a more locally based minimum wage might be an option for coping with the vast differences in purchasing power that can occur within a state, proponents argue. Cities such as SeaTac, Wash.; San Jose, Calif.; and Santa Fe, N.M. all have their own minimums. And, at the end of 2014, Chicago voted to implement its own minimum wage, which will rise to $13 by 2019 and be pegged to inflation thereafter. This made Chicago the largest city in the U.S. thus far to implement a separate minimum wage, and the 20th city overall to enact such a plan.
The idea of municipalities determining their own minimum wages isn’t new; Santa Fe and San Francisco enacted theirs in 2003. But the trend has certainly picked up steam, with five local minimum-wage ordinances passed in 2013, and that number more than doubling in 2014.
But some states are fighting back against local efforts to raise wages above the state level. In an overview of recent developments, the Wall Street Journal noted examples from Alabama, Missouri, Montana, Michigan and Rhode Island where state and local governments are clashing over wage hikes.
Alabama Rep. David Faulkner has introduced a measure in his state to bar cities from setting minimum ages.
“It’s not an ‘us-versus-them’ scenario,” Faulkner said. “It is a state issue. I don’t believe anyone anticipated cities would start introducing their own minimum wages.”
The Missouri cities of St. Louis and Kansas City both have recently passed local minimum wage measures – and a recent report commissioned by Gov. Jay Nixon on how to effectively “respond to the root causes of racial unrest in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson”suggested a minimum wage increase.
However, state legislators recently implemented “legislation that prohibits St. Louis, Kansas City and other communities from setting minimum wages”after successfully overriding the governor’s veto.
A similar effort by Montana lawmakers was vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock earlier this year.
It’s unclear whether or not Rep. Faulkner’s legislation will be successful in Alabama, or if a previously passed St. Louis minimum wage will be reversed pending a lawsuit by the business community. However, the Journal report noted that Kansas City’s minimum wage is likely “dead following the override by the legislature.”
With debate over minimum wages continuing, it’s likely that more state-versus-city battles will occur in the legislature and the courts.
“The big blue cities have been very aggressive in pushing the minimum wage,” noted Jack Mozloom, a spokesperson for the National Federation of Independent Business.
And, as large cities across the U.S. implement or consider $15 per hour minimum wages, business owners are sounding alarms about the consequences – from moving their operations to locations with lower wages to cutting jobs and/or worker hours.
Clearly, the strong push toward increased minimum wages – now at the city level as well – remains one of the leading issues facing many of today’s small-business operators.
