endorsement.
I am a School Board Candidate with a political agenda. To boil it done,
politics is about who gets what and how. Instead of a war on poverty, there has
been a war on the poor going on for the past 40 years. The rich are getting
richer at the expense of more than 90% of the population, and at the expense of
nature. There is no alternative to more of the same within the framework of the
Democratic and Republican parties. That is why I am seeking endorsement of the
Green Party and organizations willing to support independent, left-wing
candidates.
Why call for a $15 per hour minimum wage?
For most of the post World War II era until 1976, the federal minimum wage was
increased every year to offset increased living costs, as measured by the
Consumer Price Index. Minimum wage earners have since been getting less than
full cost-of-living raises, and no increase in the minimum wage most years.
If the federal minimum wage were to be adusted to reflect increases in the
consumer price index since 1976, it would be at least $10.00 per hour. However,
the formula used to measure increased living costs by the Consumer Price Index
has been changed in ways that have reduced benefit amounts tied to the Consumer
Price Index, such as Social Security retirement benefits.
In 1968, the Minimum wage was high enough that one wage earner working 40 hours
per week could support the average family of 4 in most of the US. Today, a wage
that is just high enough to adequately sustain a family of 2 adults and 2
children who are dependent on one full-time wage earner (40 hours per week)
would be about $15 per hour, in most of the US.
Two myths about the minimum wage
Myth #1: The minimum wage is mostly paid to young people just entering the
labor market.
In fact, only about 8% of minimum wage earners are 20 years old or younger.
About 60% of those who earn the minimum wage are between the age of 25 and 55.
Myth #2: Increasing the minimum wage will lead to increased unemployment
Large hikes in the minimum wage have not triggared recessions or workforce
shrinkage in the past 30 years. Small employers can generally survive a hike in
the minimum wage. Hikes in the minimum wage lead to more spending by low wage
earners, which can totally offset increased labor costs for some businesses.
A minimum wage hike as an equitable remedy
In Minneapolis, the latest buzz word is equity. In Minneapolis, racial
disparites in employment and income are huge. Covert racial discrimination in
employment and housing is widespread, resulting in high poverty rates for
people of color, who are heavily segregated into high poverty neighborhoods.
There is no government agency empowered to detect and prosecute those engaged
in unlawful, covert racial discrimination in employment and housing. Access to
the job market is also limited by unequal enforcement of criminal laws,
especially drug laws, and unequal access to a quality, public education.
An inequitable K-12 system and high costs of a college education also helps
to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of whites at the expense of people
of color. Education has a creditialling function. Many jobs require education
beyond a high school level. Many managerial jobs require a four-year college
degree, even when that much formal education is not necessary. A college degree
is required for access to a sizable part of the job market.
The K-12 public school system in Minneapolis, St. Paul and most of the
metro area has, by various means, concentrated people of color into high
poverty schools where there are also more high needs children and inadequate
services for those students. It is estimated that as many as 40% of students in
families with incomes below the poverty line experience "toxic levels of
emotional stress that interferes with learning in school. Students eligible for
free or reduced price lunches include students from families with incomes up to
250% of the poverty line. All students eligible for free and reduced priced
lunches are classified as being poor.
Here I will mention just one policy that disadvantages children who are
already disadvantaged by being poor and segregated into high poverty schools.
It is well documented that the Minneapolis Public School maintains a large pool
of teachers who are fired and replaced during their 3 year, post-probationary
period. Many of the probationary teachers have no prior teaching experience,
and some have very little training, such teachers placed by Teach For America,
who have a college degree of some type, but only had 5 weeks of training as
teachers. This situation is being perpetuated by an ongoing policy of firing
and replacing most newly hired teachers during their probationary period. The
district is presenting this as a teacher improvement strategy, of retaining the
best and firing the rest. The inexperienced teachers are concentrated in the
high poverty schools. The high exposure of students to inexperienced teachers
and high teacher turnover in high poverty schools is actually reducing the
quality of education, not increasing it.
Raising the minimum wage to even $10.00 per hour would reduce poverty
rates, including child povery rates. Other reforms of public policy are needed
to close "opportunity gaps." However, to raise living standards of the working
poor to 1968 standards would require something closer to a $15 per hour minimum
wage.
The 15 Now Movement
The 15 Now Movement is demanding a $15 minimum wage at the federal and
state levels, and trying to directly implement that demand by supporting
unionization of low wage workers. In Seattle, Washington, a socialist was
elected to the City Council who called for a $15 per hour minimum wage, and is
leading the effort to establish a $15 per hour minimum in Seattle via a popular
referendum.
Washington State already has a $10 per hour minimum wage, however,
living costs are higher than average in Seattle, and $15 comes pretty close to
being a "living wage in Seattle." Washington state has a home rule provision in
its constitution that gives cities the right to set their own minimum wage
standards. A majority of states have home rule provisions in their
constitutions, but the home rule provisions in some states, including
Minnesota, expressly allow the legislature to restrict the powers of local
government to a considerable degree.
A MINIMUM WAGE LAW IN MINNEAPOLIS
I advocate a minimum wage law for Minneapolis, which could be put into
effect by the City Council or by putting it to a popular vote via a referendum.
However, a $15 minimum wage is probably not feasible, even if the labor
movement is solidly behind it.
An effort to put a minimum wage law on the ballot in Minneapolis might
put some pressure on the legislature to hike the state minimum wage, and on the
city council to enact a local minimum wage or to upgrade the city's living wage
ordinance to a minimum wage ordinance.
The Democratic Party is feeling pressure to increase the federal
minimum wage, and is making this a campaign issue for the 2014 elections. An
increase in the federal minimum wage to at least $10.00 per hour appears to be
what is currently advocated by President Barack Obama.
There is a campaign for $9.50 in Minnesota which appears to have broad
support from labor unions, however despite a Democratic Farmer Labor Party
supermajority in the Minnesota House and Senate, and a DFL Governor, it looks
like there will not be a minimum wage increase in Minnesota this year. The
Minnesota minimum wage is only $6.25 per hour.
Arguments why a local minimum wage law in Minneapolis would be a reasonable
exercise of muncipal power.
We can expect lawsuits or legislative action against a local minimum wage
law in any city in Minnesota. Here are some arguments as to why the enactment
of a minimum wage law by the City of Minneapolis is a reasonable excercise of
municipal power.
1) Rent and property taxes in low rent districts are higher in Minneapolis than
in many suburbs
2) State and metro housing policy has concentrated low income housing in high
poverty areas in Minneapolis, which acts as an indirect subsidy to employers
who pay their employees less than a living wage, and thereby helps to depress
the prevailing wage.
3) Raising the minimum wage would help to bring prevailing wages in Minneapolis
in line with prevailing wages in the metro area for those who are performing
work comparable to low wage earners in Minneapolis.
4) Raising the minimum wage would help the working poor support themselves and
their families, and reduce the shockingly high levels of poverty for children
attending Minneapolis Public Schools.
5) Raising the Minimum wage by the City of Minneapolis is an equitable measure
to reduce the harmful effect of racial discrimination that has heavily
concentrated people of color in the lowest paying jobs. The failure of the
state to set a minimum wage that is adequate for the City of Minneapolis makes
it reasonable for the City of Minneapolis to set a higher standard than the
state of Minnesota.
6) Raising the minimum to $15 per hour in Minneapolis is in harmony with the
Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act and is a necessary supplement to it.
[Minnesota Statutes, section] 177.22 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.
"The purpose of the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act is (1) to establish
minimum wage and overtime compensation standards that maintain workers' health,
efficiency, and general well-being; (2) to safeguard existing minimum wage and
overtime compensation standards that maintain workers' health, efficiency, and
general well-being against the unfair competition of wage and hour standards
that do not; and (3) to sustain purchasing power and increase employment
opportunities."
If we are going to attempt to pass a charter amendment raising the
Minimum wage in Minneapolis, we need to get the amendment drafted and get going
on a petitioning campaign within the next few weeks. We also need to get a
legal team to work on preparing a legal defense of the local minimum wage
ordinance that we put forward. Petitions have to be turned in with adequate
numbers of signatures by the end of May. We need to be ready to immediately
file a writ of mandamus to force the charter commission to put the propose
amendment on the ballot. And we should also expect legal challenges from
employer associations, etc.
Appendix
Labor standards and wages
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=177&view=chapter
Minnesota Constitution Article 12, section 4, home rule charter
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/constitution/#article_12
Minnesota Statutes 410, local government, charters
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/statutes/?id=410
Municipal Home Rule in the United States (1968)
http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2835&context=wmlr
Doug Mann's reply to City Attorney in district court, Doug Mann v. Minneapolis
City Council
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls/files/f/bC47c6eRhSChvAI5r6PT9ZEVREW-sE1-2qfOtjc/Reply_to_City_Attorney_copy.pdf
Constitutional and Legislative Limitations of the Home Rule Charter in
Minnesota
Michigan Law review (Nov 1906)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1273645?seq=1
State "preemption" after the fact of Madison's minimum wage law
http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/lawreview/issues/2007-1/burchill.pdf
National employment law project
http://www.nelp.org/content/content_issues/category/citywide_minimum_wage/
GADEY v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLISNO. C0-93-2380.
517 N.W.2d 344 (1994)
http://www.leagle.com/decision/1994861517NW2d344_1845
Northern Pac. Ry. v. City of Duluth, 153 Minn. 122, 125, 189 N.W. 937, 939
(1922). So long as the municipal legislation involves matters of municipal
concern and the state has not expressly or impliedly restricted the
municipality's power over these matters, the municipality may enact local
legislation that is inconsistent with state law. Park v. City of Duluth, 134
Minn. 296, 298-99, 159 N.W. 627, 628 (1916). Charter provisions will be given
effect even where they "differ in details from those of existing general laws."
Grant v. Berrisford, 94 Minn. 45, 48, 101 N.W. 940, 942 (1904); accord Board of
Ed. of City of Minneapolis v. Erickson, 209 Minn. 39, 42, 295 N.W. 302, 304
(1940) (levy limit imposed by charter effective and board had no emergency
power to exceed it); Op.Att'y Gen. 707a-4 (August 1, 1955) (council may elect
to levy under charter or Minn.Stat. ch. 429, but when one or other is chosen,
council must follow its provisions throughout assessment proceeding). A charter
may, however, incorporate state law by reference. Freding v. City of
Minneapolis, 177 Minn. 122, 125, 224 N.W. 845, 847 (1929). Thus, where the city
elects to proceed under its charter, state law does not automatically apply
unless the charter so states or the state legislature has expressly or
impliedly made the charter subject to state law.
-Doug Mann, candidate for Minneapolis School Board, citywide, Folwell
neighborhood