Workers deserve minimum wage increase
Campus Times
October 11, 1996
With the presidential election a mere three weeks away, there are many
important issues and propositions to be voted on which may change the normal
runnings of California law. One of the simplest, cut-and-dried propositions
on November's ballot is Proposition 210. This proposition, if passed, will
raise the minimum wage in California from the embarrassing $4.25 an hour
to an eventual $5.75 an hour.
The impact of this proposition will give Californians the break that has
been long deserved. For the first time, workers who get paid minimum wage
will not have to worry about starving to death, or whether they are going
to have to find a second job to keep their lives in order because the new
minimum wage will actually keep up with the rate of inflation. Not only
will this increase in paychecks keep the working public happier, it will
also raise morale in the workplace. No longer will people be angry that
they are working their tails off for chump change. Instead they might even
take pride in the places they work and thus contribute even more to their
places of employment.
Granted, this wage hike will not suddenly erase everyone's financial problems,
but at this low point in minimum wage history, any little bit can help.
If the proposition passes, the minimum wage for California will be raised
in two steps. On March 1, 1997, the wage will be increased to $5 an hour,
and then be increased again on March 1, 1998, to $5.75 an hour.
A good point to the minimum wage increasing in California is that the economy
will benefit due to the fact that people will have more money to spend.
Also, a timely benefit to voting yes on Prop. 210 is that the federal minimum
wage is already currently being increased to $5.15 an hour. Because of this
federal increase, there will be more of a balance if state minimum wage
gets increased too, thus lessening the impact of any unemployment that could
have occurred if the state minimum wage became much higher than the federal.
The Industrial Welfare Commission will be required by Prop. 210 to adopt
minimum wage orders consistent with the federal minimum wage without convening
wage boards. We all want more money for our hard work; voting yes on Prop.
210 is what California needs.