State Minimum Wages

Posted on March 7, 2012 by townsend

• NY, NJ, CT politicians seek minimum wage increase, Associated Press, March 7, 2012, CBS News: “Legislative leaders from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are pushing a novel, unified approach to promote higher minimum wages, hoping to spur a national movement and eliminate a major argument of opponents in the Northeast who say hikes hinder a state’s competitiveness. The Democrats want to increase the minimum from $7.25 an hour to about $8.50 in New York and New Jersey, and to about $9.75 over two years in Connecticut, where it’s $8.25. There are several active proposals in the states. New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his counterparts, Speaker Sheila Oliver in New Jersey and Speaker Chris Donovan in Connecticut, want to defuse the argument by critics and business groups that a state puts itself at a disadvantage if it increases the minimum when neighboring states don’t…”
• Bill slashing tipped minimum wage dies in Senate, By Sandra Pedicini, March 6, 2012, Orlando Sentinel: “A bill that would have cut the hourly pay of restaurant servers and other tipped employees by more than half has died in the Florida Senate – a development that drew cheers from hourly workers. ‘To hear it has died is phenomenal,’ said Cheryl Hennessey, a server at Epcot’s Garden Grill restaurant. ‘[I’m] thrilled to death.’ The measure (SB 2106) never got a House companion and stalled after getting approval from the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee. Sen. Nancy Detert, who heads that committee, declared the bill’s demise…”
• Republicans vote to repeal state’s minimum wage, By Howard Fischer, March 6, 2012, Arizona Daily Sun: “Using the soft economy as a lever, House Republicans voted Monday to ask voters to repeal the state’s minimum wage. House Majority Leader Steve Court acknowledged that the original measure was approved six years ago on a nearly 2-1 margin. That law requires the Industrial Commission to consider inflation and make annual adjustments in the minimum that companies doing business here can pay their workers. The result is a current minimum wage of $7.65 an hour, 40 cents more than required under federal law. Court said, though, the economy in 2006 was quite different than it is now. And he said that employers cannot afford the extra costs…”