Briefing: Raising the minimum wage
Will business support a wage hike in 2014?
In his final State of the Commonwealth address last week, Gov. Deval Patrick called for support of a minimum wage hike to help reduce income inequality, issuing this challenge: “To those who are reluctant to raise the minimum wage, I ask only that, before you resolve to oppose it, consider whether you could live on it.”
At $8 an hour, the obvious answer is “No.” But what would it take to get business on board?
What's on the table?
The Senate has approved a bill that would incrementally increase the wage to $11 by 2015. That would give Massachusetts the highest minimum in the U.S., and tie it to inflation so it would be increased accordingly in the future.
The bill would also hike the wage for tipped workers to half the minimum, compared to a current wage of $2.63. And a coalition is pushing a 2014 ballot question that would ask voters to support a wage hike should legislation fail. The Senate bill has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee for review.
What do business groups say?
Bill Vernon, director of the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, said his group is interested in working with lawmakers to amend the proposal so a wage hike is more in line with those planned in states like New York and Connecticut, which will raise their minimums to $9 by the end of 2015. Vernon said the notion that an $11 wage will make strides in reducing poverty is far-fetched.
The Massachusetts Restaurants Association has opposed an increase, arguing that most restaurant employees are part-time workers and tend to be young rather than heads of households. And a number of business groups have expressed support for a smaller increase. The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, for example, supports a 5-percent increase over three years, which would result in a wage of $9.24, according to a report by Masslive.com.
What's in it for business?
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Paul Guzzi told NECN that the chamber is “more than willing on behalf of many businesses to take a hard look at the minimum wage and to adjust it accordingly,” though he added that Massachusetts has one of the highest minimums in the country, and any effort to increase it should be tied to legislation that lowers the cost of unemployment insurance for Bay State businesses.
The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce is taking a similar stance. It's something House Speaker Robert DeLeo has pledged to pursue with efforts to increase the minimum wage, and it's a compromise that might help proponents win support from the more conservative business community.
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