Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to propose a $1 hike in the California minimum wage rate today. His proposal is said to be phased in 50cents at a time. One 50 cent hike in September 2006 and another 50 cent hike in July 2007.
Democrats call it political pandering for re-election and the unions already hate him, so they wouldn't admit it even if they liked it.
LA Times
After two years of rejecting increases in the minimum wage at the behest of California businesses, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next week will propose raising the basic hourly pay $1 over 18 months, administration officials said Friday.
...
Union leaders were outright dismissive because the governor's proposal does not include automatic cost-of-living increases, as do wage laws in Washington state and Oregon.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) said he was happy Schwarzenegger wanted to raise wages. But without a regular cost-of-living increase, he said, the plan "doesn't make up for the ground that some of the state's hardest workers lost when the governor vetoed two previous attempts to raise the minimum wage."
"It's not enough," said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, which represents 2.1 million workers. "He knows it's very popular among voters, and he's trying to improve his record for reelection."
I'd rather see them throw all the illegal aliens out and watch the wages increase on their own due to market forces for a demand for workers. Of course that would make too much sense. Instead they're going to punish the legitimate businesses who are currently doing things by the books and trying to compete against the criminal cheating businesses who pay no payroll taxes and more than likely don't even pay their workers minimum wage.
These criminal businesses are probably laughing right about now.
Tipped by: SoCalLaw Blog
It's also I guess asking too much for the governator to give a reason this proposed legislation is necessary -- why is it necessary for the state to mandate an increase in the minimum wage? We hear all the time that productivity is rising, and this usually leads or should usually lead to rising wages, right? So why isn't that happening? It's like they forget about the law of supply and demand when they talk about labor.
Part of the reason is no doubt this: the problem is a huge and growing oversupply of low- or un-skilled labor, which is predominantly Hispanic. Which if you take an honest (honesty is rare on this subject) look at immigration flow is only going to keep growing at a fast rate. But it would be seen as racially insensitive and therefore too politically incorrect to say this openly.
Posted by: eh on January 6, 2006 06:56 AM
