Last week, Pawlenty vetoed legislation approved by both houses of the Minnesota Legislature that would have raised the state minimum wage to $7.75 an hour next year, up from the current state minimum of $6.15 an hour. The state law would have provided a boost beyond what\'s required under the federal minimum wage, which is set to go to $7.25 next year.
More than 300,000 Minnesota jobs pay less than the proposed $7.75 wage figure that Pawlenty vetoed. Kris Jacobs, director of the statewide JOBS NOW Coalition, said a minimum wage increase is especially important for workers outside the Twin Cities metro area: although Greater Minnesota workers hold just 41 percent of the state\'s jobs, they hold 56 percent of the jobs that pay less than $7.75 per hour.
"I don\'t think a total of $8 a week above the federal minimum wage for the rest of this year or $13 a week over the next year is too much to ask. Seven out of 10 Minnesotans agree," said Jacobs. "Twenty-eight states have higher minimum wages than Minnesota."
Advocating for a higher minimum wage at the Capitol this year were the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, UNITE/HERE Local 17, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Minnesota Community Action Association, Office for Social Justice of Catholic Charities, Minnesota ACORN and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Take Action Minnesota and the JOBS NOW Coalition.
In a statement, the members of the coalition outlined their response to the veto:
• Proponents of the minimum wage increase have been anything but rigid and unyielding. We were willing to compromise.
• First, the Governor said the wage was too high. We compromised by lowering the amount in both the first and second years.
• Second, the Governor said he didn’t like the automatic annual adjustments for inflation. We compromised by removing it from the bill.
• Third, the Governor said he wanted to keep a sub-minimum wage for younger workers. We compromised by putting it back in the bill.
• Finally, the Governor said he wanted business to be able to pay tipped employees less than the minimum wage. He argued that most restaurant servers make far more than the minimum wage, so they should be excluded from the increase.
"If only that were true," said Jacobs. "According to the Governor\'s own Department of Employment and Economic Development, the state median wage for servers (including tips) is $7.69 per hour. That\'s why a tip penalty for servers was the one thing we could not agree on."
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Last week, Pawlenty vetoed legislation approved by both houses of the Minnesota Legislature that would have raised the state minimum wage to $7.75 an hour next year, up from the current state minimum of $6.15 an hour. The state law would have provided a boost beyond what\’s required under the federal minimum wage, which is set to go to $7.25 next year.
More than 300,000 Minnesota jobs pay less than the proposed $7.75 wage figure that Pawlenty vetoed. Kris Jacobs, director of the statewide JOBS NOW Coalition, said a minimum wage increase is especially important for workers outside the Twin Cities metro area: although Greater Minnesota workers hold just 41 percent of the state\’s jobs, they hold 56 percent of the jobs that pay less than $7.75 per hour.
"I don\’t think a total of $8 a week above the federal minimum wage for the rest of this year or $13 a week over the next year is too much to ask. Seven out of 10 Minnesotans agree," said Jacobs. "Twenty-eight states have higher minimum wages than Minnesota."
Advocating for a higher minimum wage at the Capitol this year were the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, UNITE/HERE Local 17, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Minnesota Community Action Association, Office for Social Justice of Catholic Charities, Minnesota ACORN and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Take Action Minnesota and the JOBS NOW Coalition.
In a statement, the members of the coalition outlined their response to the veto:
• Proponents of the minimum wage increase have been anything but rigid and unyielding. We were willing to compromise.
• First, the Governor said the wage was too high. We compromised by lowering the amount in both the first and second years.
• Second, the Governor said he didn’t like the automatic annual adjustments for inflation. We compromised by removing it from the bill.
• Third, the Governor said he wanted to keep a sub-minimum wage for younger workers. We compromised by putting it back in the bill.
• Finally, the Governor said he wanted business to be able to pay tipped employees less than the minimum wage. He argued that most restaurant servers make far more than the minimum wage, so they should be excluded from the increase.
"If only that were true," said Jacobs. "According to the Governor\’s own Department of Employment and Economic Development, the state median wage for servers (including tips) is $7.69 per hour. That\’s why a tip penalty for servers was the one thing we could not agree on."