President Bush’s Support of “State Flexibility” Plan Would Kill Federal Minimum Wage
Not only has President Bush blocked proposals to increase the minimum wage, he supports a “state flexibility” plan that would eventually eliminate the federal minimum wage. The plan would allow all states to opt out of any future federal minimum wage increases.
Currently, the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is just that—a minimum that workers’ wages cannot fall below. However, individual states can adopt a higher “state” minimum wage, which 13 states and the District of Columbia have done. Though Bush and other supporters of this proposal say it will help states respond better to their state and local economic conditions, the truth is that it is a back-door attempt to give states a minimum wage veto. That would not only hurt millions of low-wage workers and rob them of a much needed increase in wages, but over time it would basically revoke the federal minimum wage.
A fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay, and if it wasn’t for a federal minimum wage, employers could legally get away with paying their workers as little as possible.
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