Escaping the Abyss of Poverty: Bernie Sanders' Minimum Wage Increase Proposal (1995)

The first attempt at establishing a national minimum wage came in 1933, when a $0.25 per hour standard was set as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act. However, in the 1935 court case Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (295 U.S. 495), the United States Supreme Court declared the act unconstitutional, and the minimum wage was abolished. The minimum wage was re-established in the United States in 1938 (pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act), once again at $0.25 per hour ($4.23 in 2015 dollars[13]). In United States v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941), the Supreme Court upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act, holding that Congress had the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate employment conditions. Since it was last reset on July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage in the United States has been $7.25 per hour. Some U.S. territories (such as American Samoa) are exempt. Some types of labor are also exempt: employers may pay tipped labor a minimum of $2.13 per hour, as long as the hour wage plus tip income equals at least the minimum wage. Persons under the age of 20 may be paid $4.25 an hour for the first 90 calendar days of employment (sometimes known as a youth, teen, or training wage) unless a higher state minimum exists.[15] The July 24, 2009 increase was the last of three steps of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. The wage increase was signed into law on May 25, 2007, as a rider to the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007. The bill also contained almost $5 billion in tax cuts for small businesses. Voters in six states (Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio) in 2006 approved statewide increases in the state minimum wage. The amounts of these increases ranged from $1 to $1.70 per hour and all increases were designed to annually index to inflation.[16] Some politicians in the United States have advocated linking the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index, thereby increasing the wage automatically each year based on increases to the Consumer Price Index. So far, Arizona, Ohio, Oregon, Missouri, Vermont and Washington have linked their minimum wages to the consumer price index. Minimum wage indexing also takes place each year in Florida, San Francisco, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. In April 2014, the U.S. Senate debated the Minimum Wage Fairness Act (S. 1737; 113th Congress). The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to increase the federal minimum wage for employees to $10.10 per hour over the course of a two-year period.[17] The bill was strongly supported by President Barack Obama and many of the Democratic Senators, but strongly opposed by Republicans in the Senate and House.[18][19][20] Later in the year, voters in the Republican-controlled states of Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota considered ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage above the national rate of $7.25 per hour. In all four states the initiatives were successful. The results provide further evidence that raising minimum pay has support across party lines. On June 2, 2014, the City Council of Seattle, Washington passed a local ordinance to increase the minimum wage of the city to $15 an hour,[22] giving the city the highest minimum wage in the United States,[23][24] which will be phased in over seven years, to be fully implemented by 2021.[25] A growing number of California cities have enacted local minimum wage ordinances, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, Mountain View, Richmond, and San Jose. On August 18, 2015, the El Cerrito City Council directed city staff to draft a local minimum wage ordinance based on a template provided by a coalition for a county-wide minimum wage effort. The details are not final, but Council discussed an initial increase of roughly 28 - 36% ($11.52 - $12.25 or more) by January 1, 2016, with annual increases that will result in a $15 hourly wage rate by 2018-2020. Council did not direct staff to create small business exemptions (or any other exemptions), but a slower phase-in rate may be considered for employees of small businesses. The city will have outreach for residents and business owners to discuss the details of the proposed ordinance. Staff hopes to present a draft for Council's approval as early as Oct/Nov 2015.






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