NEW POLL: Overwhelming Majority of Americans View Minimum Wage Increase as Important Priority for Co

[applegrove]

NEW POLL: Overwhelming Majority of Americans View Minimum Wage Increase as Important Priority for Congress Over Next Year

http://nelpaction.wordpress.com/

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Washington, DC – As four years pass without an increase in the federal minimum wage, a new poll released Wednesday finds that 80 percent of Americans – including 62 percent of Republicans and 80 percent of Independents – support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and indexing it to the cost of living, as proposed in the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) earlier this year. According to the poll, 74 percent of Americans consider raising the minimum wage to be an important legislative priority for Congress to address over the next year.

As members of Congress, business leaders, and workers gather in Washington on Wednesday to call for immediate passage of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, thousands of low-wage workers and their supporters in over 30 cities throughout the U.S. will hold rallies at major retail and fast food corporations, as part of a National Day of Action to raise wages for millions of America’s lowest-paid workers.

With Democratic leaders signaling plans to make raising the federal minimum wage a high-profile issue ahead of the 2014 midterm elections, the new poll finds that Congressional candidates who support legislation raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour gain a substantial 36 percent net advantage (51% more likely to support, 15% less). More than twice as many voters believe that Republicans will be more to blame than Democrats if Congress fails to raise the federal minimum wage over the next year, according to the poll, which was conducted by Hart Research Associates from July 15-17. [Top-line results of poll available here]

“Four years without a raise is three years too many,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) on Wednesday. “While millions of workers have been without a raise, costs have continued to climb. Between 2009 and 2012, rent has gone up 4 percent, food is 8 percent more expensive, child care costs 9 percent more, and public transportation takes a 13 percent bigger bite out of workers’ wallets. We have to make sure that working families can keep up with the economy. Also, by increasing the minimum wage, we can give tens of millions of workers more money in their paychecks to spend at local businesses, increasing sales and boosting economic activity.”




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[DJ13]

1. I would like to see raises for existing workers become a priority

That would also mean those at minimum would benefit.

Its the current ideology of corporate america to hold wages stagnant, decreasing costs in a mild inflationary time as a result.

That needs to change, but short of bribes through the tax code I havent got a clue how to break their iron grip on wages.

[Recursion]

2. Economically I'd like to see it up at about $25 or so

Politically, that's a non-starter, but I could see it getting up to $15. Also it should be automatically indexed to inflation.

[Marie Marie]

3. If the majority of Americans are in favor of it, then

you know the Republicans will vote against it. Funny how that works...

[Doctor_J]

4. there is no way this will happen, and it won't make a bit of difference

how people vote next year. What the people want means nothing any more

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Oregon's minimum wage is currently 8.90 an hour I think, it goes up each year

as it is tied to inflation, the same is true in Washington but theirs is a bit higher right now. California, not sure where it is now but it is also indexed to inflation. These are States run by liberal Democrats. In the Red States, the minimum is the Federal minimum, not tied to inflation and currently at 7.25 an hour. In those States tipped employees can be paid lower wages to account for tips, here they get full wage and full tips.
So how we vote State level clearly has an impact, year in and year out. No State is forced to use the Federal minimum, and many of us don't. Many of us in blue States don't, that is.

[Sometimeswedrown]

5. Curious what some companies will do?

I have heard talk of a minimum wage of 9.00 per hour here lets say it happens, what happens to current employees at say 8.75?

Just an example but I think I was successful with a point I was wondering about.

[ohheckyeah]

6. What happens is the employees

making $8.75 get a .25 an hour raise.

[RainDog]

8. k&r n/t

[liberal_at_heart]

9. I like the indexing it to cost of living, but $10 is not a good starting point.

If this ends up being like healthcare where we only get a little bit of what we need it won't be enough to win my vote. We need to be starting at about $18, probably even higher. A little bit is no longer enough. We need big fixes for big problems.

[kath]

10. Doesn't matter what 80% of the people want - we no longer have representative govt in the US.

It's govt of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%.

[Scurrilous]

11. K & R

[socialist_n_TN]

12. As a couple of other posters have pointed out....

this will be another DOA proposal, no matter how popular. It's a somewhat "leftish" position that would cut the rate of profit of business. Ergo, it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of being enacted.