Virginia Democrats want to raise minimum wage

By CHELYEN DAVIS

Date published: 12/20/2006

RICHMOND--Virginia Democrats will push for an increase to the minimum wage in the upcoming legislative session.

In a news conference yesterday explaining the proposal, House Minority caucus chairman, Del. Brian Moran, D-Alexandria, noted that the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour hasn't been raised in almost 10 years.

During that time, the cost of living has increased, leaving minimum-wage workers at the poverty level--or below it, if they have children.

"We've been making it harder and harder each year through our inaction," Moran said. "Working full time and raising a family should never be a ticket to poverty."

Virginia Democrats want the minimum wage increased to $6.15 an hour in 2008 and $7.25 an hour in 2009.

Moran said doing so would increase productivity and improve the economy, because workers would feel more valued, and thus would work harder, and would also have more money to reinvest in the economy.

"Increasing the minimum wage shows that we value work," Moran said.

However, Congress is poised to enact a federal minimum wage increase--incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to pass legislation to raise the wage within the first 100 hours of taking office next month. That would make Virginia's efforts moot, unless Virginia raised the wage above the federal level.

Moran said Democrats are not convinced a federal minimum wage increase would be approved by President Bush.

"We want to take action now," he said.

Democrats will have to get their proposal past Republicans. A bill to raise the minimum wage died in a subcommittee last year, and Del. Harvey Morgan, chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee--through which this year's bills would go--is not in favor of it.

"I'll be the first to say the minimum wage is not a living wage," Morgan said. "But we live in a free market, and to require businesses to pay a certain wage destroys that market."

Morgan said that as a small business owner, he was unable to hire more workers when the minimum wage increased in the past. He also said if Virginia's wage were set at a level different from the other Southern states against which it competes for business, it could put the state at a disadvantage.

Democrats said more than 20 states already have minimum wage requirements higher than the $5.15 federal standard, including Maryland and the District of Columbia; North Carolina and West Virginia recently passed increases that haven't gone into effect yet.

The Democrats' bills will be considered when the legislative session convenes in January.

To reach CHELYEN DAVIS: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com

Date published: 12/20/2006