PHOENIX — Arizona workers at the bottom of the pay scale are going to keep getting raises each year to match inflation, at least for the time being.
House Majority Leader Steve Court said Tuesday he has pulled the plug on his proposal to ask voters to repeal the state’s minimum wage.
The Mesa Republican noted that the change would require voter approval in November. And he said polling by the restaurant industry, which is heavily affected by the law, shows that the measure would be defeated.
That, said Court, made getting the legislative votes to put the issue on the ballot a meaningless exercise.
Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant Association, acknowledged that is the case. He said his industry and others with minimum wage workers, like hotels and motels, are instead focusing on a 2014 ballot fight.
But Chucri said the businesses have work to do.
“We need to get our messaging right,’’ he said.
The 2006 initiative set a state minimum wage of $6.75 an hour. At that time the federal minimum wage, which had governed Arizona employers, was just $5.15.
Chucri said the big problem is that the law requires the Industrial Commission to adjust that figure annually to account for inflation. The result is a current state minimum wage of $7.65 an hour, 40 cents more than required under federal law.
He said that’s not right.
“People are going to get increases every single year, without merit,’’ Chucri said.
He said polling shows that the public understands that issue. But what it also showed, Chucri said, is that they were confused over the difference between the state and federal roles.
Chucri said he has no idea how many people now being paid the minimum wage are working full-time jobs at that rate, versus students and others who have part-time work.
Court’s measure would have set the state minimum wage permanently at the current $7.65 an hour or the federal minimum wage, whichever would be higher. That effectively would wipe out the state minimum wage the moment Congress got around to approving a higher figure.
The most recent adjustment to the state minimum wage, which took effect in January, added 30 cents an hour.
The law does allow a employers to claim a $3 an hour “tip credit,’’ meaning they will be able to put just $4.65 an hour into paychecks. But that requires proof that the employees are, in fact, bringing in at least $3 an hour in tips.
davidflucier posted at 5:08 pm on Thu, Mar 22, 2012.
Another really bad idea from start to finish...consider that Arizona already suffers from the fact that 20% of Arizona's population lives at or below the poverty level.
So, in order to solve this problem, the answer is LOWER WAGES!
Does anyone else get the feeling that somewhere a village is missing ALL of its idiots?
DrJCA1 posted at 2:01 pm on Thu, Mar 22, 2012.
Minimum wage laws have always been a two-edged sword. On one side is the fact that most workers should make a decent living. On the other side, there are many youngsters who would like a summer or weekend job, but many businesses cannot afford to hire them at minimum wage. I owned a few bookstores and gift shops some years ago and can tell you for sure that I could not afford to pay a couple of kids to come in and clean, reshelf, and restock in my stores. According to the department of labor, every time the minimum wage goes up, it hurts those at the bottom of the pay scalethe most. Minimum just went up here in Ohio and sure as shootin', we lost about a half-percent (# of employees) off the bottom. If a small to mediium sized business is barely making it, they simply cannot afford to hire more people when wages go up. When you have employees, you need to figure in insurance costs, unemployment insurance, and any benefits you have for your employees. this all gets added into the mix.
6Characters posted at 5:24 pm on Wed, Mar 21, 2012.
There are too many undereducated voters in this town to elect anybody competent. Many of these people work for valley newspapers.
GAROTE posted at 11:53 pm on Tue, Mar 20, 2012.
Wow, this guy House Majority Leader Steve Court is a real idiot. Did he forget just who voted him into office? He should represent the people who voted for him, not Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant Association. Sounds like someone was paid off, but Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant Association just did not give up enough cash. I live in Mesa and to you Steve Court, I am voting for the other guy just because you put forth that bill in the first place.