SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
NJ GOP's Failed Attempt to Block Minimum Wage Bill
Republicans cite storm as excuse to 'keep people down'
Nov 20, 2012
New Jersey Republicans attempted to sideline a new proposal to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 from $7.25 an hour and provide annual cost-of-living increases.
The Budget Committee in the Democratically controlled House advanced the bill by a 7-6 vote, and the Senate is expected to deliver final approval next week, The Inquirer reports.
House GOP members cited the capacious storm recovery as a reason to wait on the bill, for fear the wage increase would add undue labor costs to storm damaged businesses.
In response, Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) said boosting the minimum wage would benefit workers across the board.
"This is the exact time we should be giving them a little more," Norcross added. "I think jumping on the back of this storm to keep those people down is disgraceful."
New Jersey's battle is the latest installment in an on-going national campaign to raise the minimum wage.
Last week, economists reported that US wages have remained stagnant over the past ten years.
Holly Sklar, Director of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, adds that all sectors of the economy, including small businesses, are dependent on workers making a living wage. She writes:
Between 1938, when the federal minimum wage was first enacted, and 1968, when it peaked in value, the bottom 90 percent of households shared 69 percent of the nation's income growth. The middle class was able to grow.
The biggest problem for Main Street businesses is lack of customer demand. Low-income workers put pay increases right back into needed purchases at local businesses.
Last spring, Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced the "Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012" (H.R. 5901) - legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour, which has since stalled in the Republican-controlled House.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
New Jersey Republicans attempted to sideline a new proposal to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 from $7.25 an hour and provide annual cost-of-living increases.
The Budget Committee in the Democratically controlled House advanced the bill by a 7-6 vote, and the Senate is expected to deliver final approval next week, The Inquirer reports.
House GOP members cited the capacious storm recovery as a reason to wait on the bill, for fear the wage increase would add undue labor costs to storm damaged businesses.
In response, Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) said boosting the minimum wage would benefit workers across the board.
"This is the exact time we should be giving them a little more," Norcross added. "I think jumping on the back of this storm to keep those people down is disgraceful."
New Jersey's battle is the latest installment in an on-going national campaign to raise the minimum wage.
Last week, economists reported that US wages have remained stagnant over the past ten years.
Holly Sklar, Director of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, adds that all sectors of the economy, including small businesses, are dependent on workers making a living wage. She writes:
Between 1938, when the federal minimum wage was first enacted, and 1968, when it peaked in value, the bottom 90 percent of households shared 69 percent of the nation's income growth. The middle class was able to grow.
The biggest problem for Main Street businesses is lack of customer demand. Low-income workers put pay increases right back into needed purchases at local businesses.
Last spring, Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced the "Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012" (H.R. 5901) - legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour, which has since stalled in the Republican-controlled House.
New Jersey Republicans attempted to sideline a new proposal to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 from $7.25 an hour and provide annual cost-of-living increases.
The Budget Committee in the Democratically controlled House advanced the bill by a 7-6 vote, and the Senate is expected to deliver final approval next week, The Inquirer reports.
House GOP members cited the capacious storm recovery as a reason to wait on the bill, for fear the wage increase would add undue labor costs to storm damaged businesses.
In response, Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) said boosting the minimum wage would benefit workers across the board.
"This is the exact time we should be giving them a little more," Norcross added. "I think jumping on the back of this storm to keep those people down is disgraceful."
New Jersey's battle is the latest installment in an on-going national campaign to raise the minimum wage.
Last week, economists reported that US wages have remained stagnant over the past ten years.
Holly Sklar, Director of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, adds that all sectors of the economy, including small businesses, are dependent on workers making a living wage. She writes:
Between 1938, when the federal minimum wage was first enacted, and 1968, when it peaked in value, the bottom 90 percent of households shared 69 percent of the nation's income growth. The middle class was able to grow.
The biggest problem for Main Street businesses is lack of customer demand. Low-income workers put pay increases right back into needed purchases at local businesses.
Last spring, Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced the "Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012" (H.R. 5901) - legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour, which has since stalled in the Republican-controlled House.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy