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Anti-Worker Proposals Likely in Upcoming Minimum Wage Fight
With opinion polls showing that more than seventy percent of Americans favor an increase in the
minimum wage, business interests and the Bush administration are pushing to allow states to ignore the federal minimum wage. This “opt out” provision, which has been endorsed by President Bush, Labor Secretary
Elaine Chao, and seventy-five Republican members of Congress could mean the death of the minimum wage as an effective national floor for low-workers.. Other anti-worker proposals and additional hefty tax breaks for the
ultra-rich designed as posion pills to kill the minimum wage increase are also expected to be proposed.
The so-called “opt-out” provision that Bush, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Big Business groups and many Republican lawmakers support would, in effect, end the federal minimum wage. A recent letter from 75 members of the U.S. House to Bush expressed their “strong support” for letting states set minimum wages lower than the federal law requires. The death of the minimum wage has been a longtime goal for some pro-business legislators and business groups.
The federal minimum wage—currently $5.15 an hour—is a floor; states are permitted to enact higher minimum wage requirements of their own, and 11 states have done so. The opt-out proposal’s backdoor repeal of the federal minimum wage would eliminate this floor, making it much more difficult for states to sustain higher minimum wages and setting off a "race to the bottom" competition among states.
If added to proposed legislation, the “opt-out” provision could be just one of several anti-worker measures Republican lawmakers tack onto their minimum wage bills. Attacks are expected on the Fair Labor Standards Act, and several business tax breaks may be included as well. Pro-worker legislators have described these measures as “poison pills” to any minimum wage bill.
In contrast, minimum wage measures (S. 277 and H.R. 665) introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) have no strings attached and raise the minimum wage by $1.50 an hour over 18 months. Economicsts with the Economic Policy Institute have prepared a briefing on why the minimum wage should be increased.
Some of the other anticipated “poison pills” include:
Weakening the 40-hour workweek and overtime protections by allowing employers to substitute compensatory time instead of time-and-a-half overtime pay.
Eliminating the minimum wage and overtime pay for millions of workers in funeral homes and certain sales and computer occupations.
Allowing employers to slash hourly and overtime pay for all workers by designating some or all of a worker's pay as an "incentive" or "performance bonus.”
Giving businesses tax breaks of at least $76 billion, according to what Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) told reporters in April, similar to a House bill crafted last year. There also have been reports that some Republican lawmakers may try to add hundreds of billions more in tax breaks to Bush’s millionaire tax cut to make up for the $450 billion the Senate trimmed from the measure recently.
Although workers in every state deserve a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, expect anti-worker lawmakers to shape a minimum wage proposal that would give low-wage workers a small raise with one hand while taking away important overtime pay with the other—and would end federal minimum wage protection for tens of millions of workers in states that “opt out.”
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