Some States Will Vote on Higher Minimum Pay

Some states will vote on higher minimum pay

Fast-food workers including Keonna Gardner (center) went on strike to demand $15-an-hour wages and the right to form a union. The protest, held outside of a McDonald's at 14th St. and Prospect Ave., Kansas City, Missouri, on Sept. 4, 2014, resulted in the arrest of 52 protesters who blocked the streets, including the off ramp from eastbound Interstate 70 at Prospect. Photo: Tammy Ljungblad/Kansas City Star/MCT

WASHINGTON — U.S. workers in any state must be paid at least $7.25 per hour. It is a national law called the minimum wage. President Barack Obama would like Congress to make the amount higher. But such an increase isn't happening anytime soon, many believe.

Instead, people who want a higher minimum wage nationwide are focusing on four states this Election Day. They hope the unlikely group of states votes for an increase on Nov. 4.

The states are Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. These are four solidly Republican states. Their voters often do not agree with the president's plans.Some people hope that winning in four Republican states will change things. They think it will make it harder for Congress to keep voting against a national increase.

Different States, Different Pay Rates

The minimum wage has gained a lot of attention this year.

Earlier this month, fast-food workers across the country skipped work on purpose to go on strike. The strike was to demand pay of $15 per hour. They call this a "livable" wage. Such pay would be more than double the current national minimum of $7.25 per hour. The Seattle City Council passed a $15 hourly rate in June. Some people are pushing to get the same amount elsewhere in Washington state.

People in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota will vote on much smaller increases. But that doesn’t bother Steve Copley. He leads the Give Arkansas a Raise Now group.

“Every penny that somebody who is working hard can get helps,” Copley said.

People pushing for a higher minimum wage must be realistic about what increases they ask for, said Peggy Shorey. She works for the labor group AFL-CIO. It supports the ballot proposals in the states.

“Arkansas is not the same as Seattle,” she said.

The current minimum wage in Arkansas is $6.25 per hour. Arkansas is one of three states with a minimum wage that is lower than the national minimum. Only Georgia and Wyoming are lower, according to the government.

Many Workers Would Benefit

An increase in the minimum wage does not just help the lowest-paid workers. Other workers also would see their pay increase.

All four state proposals would raise pay on Jan. 1. But there are differences in how the increases would work. The differences have to do how the cost of living would be measured. The cost of living tracks how much things like food, clothes and housing cost and change over time.

Linking yearly minimum wage increases to changes in the cost of necessities is something people argue about. Opponents in South Dakota say it is one of their biggest concerns.

Ten states link the minimum wage to changes in the cost of living, according to the Department of Labor. Others are scheduled to follow in upcoming years.

Copley said such a measure would not have passed in Arkansas.

Instead, the minimum hourly rates would stop at $8.50 per hour in 2017 in Arkansas. They would stop at $9 per hour in 2016 in Nebraska.

Playing Politics With Higher Pay

People who do not want to raise the minimum wage may have a tough battle in the four states.

Michael Held does work for the South Dakota Farm Bureau. The group is against South Dakota's plan to raise the minimum wage. Held says polls show that the Farm Bureau has a lot of work to do. They need to explain to voters why they are worried about raising the minimum wage.

A poll in Arkansas was taken in April. It found that more than three of every four voters surveyed supported their state’s ballot proposal to raise the minimum wage.

Jay Barth teaches at Hendrix College. He helped run the poll. He had an idea of why the results came out as they did. Arkansas is more open to changing ways than other Southern states, he said.

Five Southern states — South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama — have no state minimum wage at all. They use the federal rate.

If higher minimum wage laws pass in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, it could change the way people think about it, Shorey said.

It would show that the minimum wage does not divide Republicans and Democrats.