St. Paul unions weigh support for campaign to pass citywide $15 minimum wage

August 12, 2015 by
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler leads a discussion about the Raising Wages Agenda at the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler leads a discussion about the Raising Wages Agenda at the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul.

 

Backing the emergent campaign for a $15 minimum wage in St. Paul is the right thing to do, labor leaders said in a meeting with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler last night. But as unions look to reverse the trend of declining density, joining the fight to raise wages is also about remaining relevant.

“We want the union movement to be seen as out there fighting for working families beyond just our members,” Shuler said. “It’s our job to make the labor movement relevant to everyone who works for a living, and I think that’s what raising wages is all about.”

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler listens to St. Paul RLF President Bobby Kasper's remarks.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler listens to St. Paul RLF President Bobby Kasper’s remarks.

Shuler, the second-ranking officer in the nation’s largest labor federation, joined St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper at the East Side Freedom Library in leading a frank discussion about the AFL-CIO’s Raising Wages Agenda. St. Paul and Minneapolis are among the 13 cities targeted by the AFL-CIO’s campaign.

Shuler emphasized there’s no “cookie-cutter approach” cities must follow, but what most campaigns have in common is a focus on electing candidates who pledge to support working families – and holding them accountable.

Kasper said the St. Paul RLF, which unites more than 100 local unions in Ramsey, Washington, Dakota and Chisago counties, aims to do more than increase the city’s minimum wage. The RLF and its community partners – including faith-based, progressive, minority and immigrant-rights groups – plan to form a St. Paul Works coalition to advocate for policies stepping up enforcement of wage theft, guaranteeing access to earned sick time and supporting fair schedules.

About 30 union activists and labor leaders join the Raising Wages discussion.

About 30 union activists and labor leaders join the Raising Wages discussion.

A similar coalition is gaining momentum in Minneapolis. And St. Paul community groups launched a 15Now campaign earlier this month.

15Now’s push to raise the minimum wage and improve working conditions in cities across the country, Kasper said, “is a golden opportunity to get together with community groups and work on common goals, common interests. But we need buy-in from the unions.”

That investment will pay off for unions in the long run, Kasper added. “We need to have the community working with us. We’re a small speck in the community. But if we can take the lead and not be ashamed of who we are … then when we run organizing or political campaigns in the future, we’ve got the community on our side.”

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Workers call out Johnson for opposing minimum-wage increases

October 7, 2014 by
Darcy Landau, a wheelchair agent at MSP International Airport, questioned Jeff Johnson's opposition to minimum wage increases as Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson looked on.

Darcy Landau, a wheelchair agent at MSP International Airport, questioned Jeff Johnson’s opposition to scheduled minimum wage increases.

How do minimum-wage workers feel about Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson’s opposition to wage increases scheduled for 2015 and 2016, and cost-of-living increases scheduled to begin in 2018?

Ask Darcy Landau, one of tens of thousands of workers statewide who saw their wages climb to $8 per hour Aug. 1.

“Does Mr. Johnson realize the pain he would cause people like me and working people across the state?” Landau asked. “Does he have any clue what it’s like to live on minimum wage?”

A wheelchair agent at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Landau said his job offers no affordable health insurance or career advancement. Many of his co-workers juggle two or three minimum- or low-wage jobs just to make ends meet for themselves and their families.

The Aug. 1 wage increase was the first Landau had received in years, and it came thanks to legislation signed into law by labor-endorsed Gov. Mark Dayton. Landau said future increases included in the new law are necessary to keep up with the rising cost of food, rent and transportation.

Landau spoke at a press conference called by the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s largest federation of labor unions, representing more than 300,000 union workers.

The federation was part of a coalition of labor, faith and non-profit groups that lobbied successfully to pass the minimum wage bill last spring, and Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson warned that Johnson, if elected governor, would put the coalition’s accomplishments in jeopardy.

Knutson pointed to three examples of Johnson’s “consistent record” of opposition to increasing the minimum wage:

  • Johnson voted against a modest increase to $6.15 per hour – a measure that Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty eventually signed into law – as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2006.
  • In an interview with the Bemidji Pioneer, Johnson said he would sign legislation repealing the minimum wage increase passed earlier this year.
  • He is committed to blocking annual cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage in 2018 and beyond.

That record is unlikely to sit well with the 325,000 Minnesotans who will see their wages go up as a result of the new minimum-wage law. To appeal to those voters, Knutson said, Johnson recently attempted to flip-flop his position on minimum wage.

“In last week’s debate, Jeff Johnson tried to run away from it, but he has a clear record of opposing wage increases for the lowest-paid people in Minnesota,” Knutson said. “Whether it was his time in the Legislature or during his campaign, Jeff Johnson has shown time and again that he sides with billionaires and big corporations over working Minnesotans.”

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Minimum-wage victory showcases potential of labor-community partnerships

April 29, 2014 by
Surrounded by legislative supporters and members of the Raise the Wage Coalition, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill increasing the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2016 – and indexing it to inflation.

Surrounded by legislative supporters and members of the Raise the Wage Coalition, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill increasing the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2016 – and indexing it to inflation.

On April 14, Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill gradually raising Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2016 and indexing the wage so that it keeps pace with inflation beginning in 2018.

The bill signing was a victory for more than 350,000 workers statewide who are expected to see a raise as a result of the bill. But it also marked a victory for the coalition of unions, religious groups and other non-profits that united to push the minimum-wage hike across the finish line.

“We’ve seen what an impact we can make when we come together,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson said after the bill-signing ceremony in the Capitol rotunda. “It felt good.”

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor federation, was one of several union groups that took a leadership role in the Raise the Wage Coalition, which united more than 70 diverse organizations behind a minimum-wage increase.

After DFL majorities in the House and Senate failed to agree on a minimum-wage bill last spring, unions and labor federations pledged to invest energy, resources and political capital into seeing a meaningful increase pass before the 2014 session gaveled to a close. They made the commitment despite the fact, as Knutson pointed out, “the vast majority of Minnesota’s union workforce makes well above the minimum wage.”

“The labor movement is committed to improving the lives of all working people,” Knutson said. “Like Paul Wellstone said, ‘We all do better when we all do better.’”

RaisetheWageWeb_0A step toward ‘enduring partnerships’

Unions’ leadership role in the Raise the Wage Coalition reflected local action on a nationwide directive put forth at the AFL-CIO Convention in Los Angeles last year. Known as “Resolution 16,” the directive calls on state and local labor federations to build “enduring partnerships” with community groups that share values and goals with the labor movement.

With the minimum-wage campaign, Minnesota unions backed up the AFL-CIO’s talk with action, said St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper, whose office coordinated 96 volunteer shifts on behalf of the minimum-wage push this year.

“Building a movement for economic justice isn’t possible unless we look beyond our own unions and reach out to our allies in that struggle,” Kasper said. “Whether it’s fighting Right to Work or defending prevailing wage, our position will only be stronger if we have members of the broader community behind us, but we can’t expect their support if we don’t step up when they need us.”

‘Speaking with a collective voice’

Labor’s role in the minimum-wage victory was not lost on the non-profit and faith-based organizations that joined the Capitol celebration April 14.

“It’s really inspiring seeing labor behind a broad, social justice issue like the minimum wage of concern to the community, not just their own members,” said Doran Schrantz, executive director of ISAIAH, a faith-based member of the Raise the Wage Coalition. “Seeing labor really throw everything, all their political might and muscle, behind this was really inspiring.”

The non-profit group A Minnesota Without Poverty had been organizing in support of a minimum-wage increase since 2008, coordinating events like one last year in which activists handed out ketchup bottles at the Capitol, urging lawmakers to “catch up to the cost of living.”

“We were doing our own thing,” Executive Director Nancy Maeker said. “We knew there were others working on the issue, and we were appreciative. But it didn’t seem like there was a lot of coordination among those groups.”

That changed last fall, when A Minnesota Without Poverty accepted an invitation to join the Raise the Wage Coalition. Maeker said she quickly realized the power of “speaking with a collective voice,” and she appreciated the “organizational wherewithal” union groups lent to the campaign.

“I was pretty positive toward labor to begin with, but I didn’t know labor would be interested in collaborating on an issue like minimum wage,” Maeker said. “That’s the part I was most appreciative of.”

Organizers of the Raise the Wage Coalition held a press conference before delivering thousands of postcards to state senators from supporters of a $9.50 minimum wage.

The Raise the Wage Coalition held a press conference before delivering thousands of postcards to state senators from supporters of a $9.50 minimum wage earlier this year.

Doing what labor does best

After lawmakers failed to pass a wage hike in 2013, Raise the Wage Coalition members realized they needed to engage the public to make their campaign successful in 2014. “It wasn’t just a campaign that could happen here under the (Capitol) dome,” Schrantz said. “We really needed to engage the wider community.”

Grassroots campaigning – knocking on doors, phone banking – is labor’s strong suit, and labor federations like the St. Paul RLF joined Working America, the AFL-CIO’s outreach initiative to non-union workers, in a leading role.

“We came out of last session knowing we needed to mobilize and mobilize big,” Working America State Director Bree Halverson said. “At Working America in Minnesota, we kept the conversation going all year-round.”

Working America began door-to-door canvasses across the state around the minimum wage June 1, 2013, Halverson said. By April 4, canvassers had knocked on 100,239 doors, engaged 43,172 Minnesotans in conversations about the issue and generated 4,000 letters or phone calls to lawmakers asking them to support the coalition’s bill.

As it turned out, Halverson said, it wasn’t a tough sell for most Minnesotans.

“People got it,” she said. “Even if minimum wage didn’t affect them directly, it was important to their kids who were struggling to find good employment after college, or it was important for their community because if people were making better wages, then their whole community would be stronger.”

Working America and other coalition members, like Jewish Community Action, proved critical in generating support in areas where unions don’t have a lot of membership or haven’t been traditionally active politically.

“Some of the senators that needed to be moved, that needed to hear a strong voice for social justice were from areas that Jewish Community Action had a base,” JCA organizer Rachel English said. “JCA played an important role in making sure more of the suburban senators heard from their constituents that this is an important social justice issue to them.”

Toward a economic justice for all

While lawmakers, union leaders and other coalition members celebrated the minimum-wage victory, they were also quick to point out that work remains in building a more economically just Minnesota.

“Our work is not done,” Speaker of the House Paul Thissen said. “There are still lots and lots of Minnesotans struggling to remain in or get into the middle class.”

Are there initiatives members of the Raise the Wage Coalition can unite around in the future? Some members think so.

“I would love for this coalition to keep working,” English said. “You can see the kind of impact it had up on Capitol Hill.”

English pointed to provisions left out of the minimum-wage bill – language to strengthen the 40-hour workweek and protect guest workers – and the inclusion of a “training wage” that, she fears, could incentivize employing teenagers at a lower wage than adult workers.

Halverson agreed: “Minimum wage is just the first step, I feel, to some really great stuff going forward,” she said. “It’s exciting.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to work on issues together in the future that are going to help workers in Minnesota. It may not be the Raise the Wage Coalition, but there are relationships we’ve as a labor movement made that we’re going to have for a very long time.”

“I’m proud of the work we did to pass minimum wage,” St. Paul RLF President Kasper said. “I’m even more excited about the prospect of continuing to build a better Minnesota with the new friends and allies we gained during the campaign.”

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Bobby Kasper: Time for lawmakers to get minimum-wage increase done

April 2, 2014 by
Bobby Kasper

Bobby Kasper

Raising minimum wage to $9.50 per hour will improve the incomes of 357,000 working Minnesotans across the demographic spectrum. It would also improve the incomes of 202,000 working women.

If we would have indexed Minnesota’s first minimum wage in 1973, $1.80 per hour, it would be approximately $9.50 today. Indexing minimum wage to $9.50 allows low-wage workers to catch up and keep up. We also need to protect tipped workers from having their wages cut by not allowing tip-penalty language to be added to the minimum wage bill.

Big businesses say indexing minimum wage is equivalent to an autopilot. It’s important for our legislators to understand that freezing minimum wage is also an autopilot. Do legislators want to erode the purchasing power of the minimum wage every year? Or do they want to maintain it through indexing? The indexing included in House File 92 represents the minimum of what is necessary if the minimum wage is to keep pace with the cost of living. Under indexing, the minimum wage will grow by approximately 17 cents per year in 2017 and 2018.

Businesses have been threatening that companies will move out of the state and businesses will be forced to lay off workers because of indexing and a higher minimum wage. But currently Washington state has a minimum wage of $9.32 per hour, and they have indexed to inflation since 1998. They are beating the U.S. in job growth. Indexing ensures the minimum wage keeps up with the cost of living. We don’t freeze the price of groceries and gas. Why should the minimum wage be frozen? Without indexing, minimum wage will lose value every year. Indexing the minimum wage gives both employers and employees predictability.

Improving the minimum wage will improve economic security for 137,000 children whose parents are low-wage earners. It will also increase annual consumer spending power in Minnesota by $472 million.

Numerous states raised their minimum wages higher than the federal level during the 1997-2007 period, when the federal minimum wage remained stuck at $5.15. Research by the Fiscal Policy Institute and others showed that states that raised their minimum wages above the federal level experienced better employment and small business trends than states that did not.

This isn’t just about a decent wage. This is about the quality of our state. Right now we rank among the four lowest state minimum wages, with Arkansas, Georgia and Wyoming. Minnesota can do better. This is about lifting people out of poverty. This is about personal dignity, giving workers the opportunity to provide for their families and pay their bills. Minnesota needs to do this, and with your help we can get this done!

– Bobby Kasper is president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

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Coalition delivers 7,000 postcards to state senators urging action on minimum wage

March 18, 2014 by
Organizers of the Raise the Wage Coalition hold a press conference before delivering postcards to state senators.

Organizers of the Raise the Wage Coalition hold a press conference before delivering postcards to state senators.

Supporters of raising the state’s minimum wage – and indexing it to keep up with the cost of living – kept the pressure on state senators today, delivering more than 7,000 postcards from constituents demanding action.

The postcards are the product of conversations with Minnesotans that began, Raise the Wage Coalition spokesperson Jennifer Munt said, with a question: Should people who work full time have to live in poverty?

“Almost always the answer was ‘no,’” Munt said. “And it was an urgent ‘no’ for low-wage workers.”

web.minwage-postcardsOrganizers of the Raise the Wage Coalition, which includes unions, community organizations, religious groups and non-profits, have been starting those conversations at public events like the Minnesota State Fair and in conversations with Minnesotans on their doorsteps.

“We’ve been talking with our members at the doors each night since last May,” Working America statewide director Bree Halverson said.

Working America members are workers who do not have the benefit of a union contract on the job, and they “overwhelmingly support raising the minimum wage,” Halverson added. In fact, many would benefit directly from an increase to $9.50 per hour.

“Some of our members work two or three jobs because they can’t find one with an hourly wage that goes far enough, or they don’t get enough hours to make ends meet,” Halverson said.

While both the Senate and House have passed minimum-wage increases, a final bill remains stuck in conference committee at the Capitol. Coalition members support the House bill, which would raise the wage to $9.50 by 2015 and includes indexing so that the wage keeps its value as the cost of living increases.

Munt, communications director for Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said indexing “protects the purchasing power of the working poor, and it ensures their families won’t slip into poverty.”

“We don’t freeze the price of groceries, so why would we freeze the minimum wage?” she asked.

Indexing also makes sure coalition members won’t have to fire up the campaign again in years to come.

“Indexing keeps politics out of the minimum wage and ensures workers won’t have to wait another nine years for an increase,” Munt said.

The coalition also wants the minimum-wage bill to:

• Conform Minnesota’s definition of a large business to the federal threshold of $500,000 annual gross sales.

• Conform state law to reflect the federal 40-hour work week and twelve weeks of parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a child.

• Protect tipped workers from having their wages cut by not allowing tip penalty language to be inserted into the bill.

[Click here for information on how you can support efforts to raise the wage!]

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Mayors take up call for $9.50 minimum wage

February 6, 2014 by
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman talks about what a $9.50 minimum wage would mean for his city, as Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata looks on.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman talks about what a $9.50 minimum wage would mean for his city, as Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata looks on.

Raising the minimum wage to $9.50 would boost the paychecks of an estimated 20,000 workers in St. Paul, injecting $27 million into the city’s economy. In Minneapolis 30,000 workers would get a raise, a $40 million bump for the city’s economy.

It’s no surprise, then, that both Twin Cities mayors today added theirs to the growing chorus of voices calling on lawmakers to make raising Minnesota’s minimum wage a top priority when the Legislature returns to session Feb. 25.

“This is the wealthiest nation on earth, and no one should have to live in poverty,” St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said. “But unfortunately, the current minimum-wage level is forcing too many of our families into that situation.

“If you work hard, you should get rewarded for that work.”

Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges joined other Minnesota mayors at the Capitol today for a press conference organized by the labor-backed Raise the Wage Coalition, which is pushing a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.50 per hour, and adjust the wage annually for inflation.

[Related: “It’s time for Senate to act on minimum wage“]

Both Coleman and Hodges identified raising the minimum wage as an effective way to combat rising income inequality. Minneapolis’ economy is recovering from the Great Recession, Hodges said, but “low-wage workers, people of color are not reaping the same benefits of the recovery as other people are.

“Raising the minimum wage is crucial to ensuring that people who work for a living, can make a living. We need (legislators) to take action on this.”

Income inequality isn’t just an urban problem. On the state’s Iron Range, Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata said, there are good-paying jobs in the mining industry and minimum-wage jobs like the one his wife holds down – but not much in between.

“You see neighbors who can’t decide what they want to do, feed their families or buy fuel oil,” Cannata said. “That’s why I’m here today.”

According to an economic analysis by the JOBS NOW Coalition, raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015 would boost purchasing power statewide by $470 million, as low-income workers and families are much more likely than middle- or upper-income families to spend most – or all – of what they earn on goods and services.

“The people at minimum wage now can’t go out to support the mom-and-pop stores on Main Street,” Cannata said. “You get a couple dollars more in your wage, you’re going to go out and spend that.”

Mayors also offered a strong rebuke to opponents who say the minimum wage was never intended to support an adult, let alone a family. Instead, they say, it is an entry-level or “training” wage for teenagers and young adults seeking employment experience.

In fact, a report issued by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry last month found 40 percent of the state’s minimum-wage earners are older than 24.

“If it is a training wage, then there are people who have been in training for years if not decades,” Hodges said.

“It’s a quaint notion that it’s kids working at Dairy Queen” who earn the minimum wage, Coleman added.

[Click here to take action in support of raising the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015!]

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Shar Knutson: It’s time for Senate to act on minimum wage

February 4, 2014 by

mug-knutsonWhen the Minnesota Legislature reconvenes on February 25th, lawmakers will be greeted by hundreds of people from Labor, Faith, Non-Profit, and Community Groups calling on them to increase Minnesota’s minimum wage to at least $9.50 per hour.

The hundreds of Minnesotans gathered at the Capitol will be there because of one underlying principle; nobody who works full time should have to live in poverty. They’ll be gathered there because in 2013, the Minnesota Senate failed to act on a meaningful minimum wage increase.

[Click here to register for the Feb. 25 rally and to find volunteer opportunities with the Raise the Wage campaign near you!]

In 2013, the Minnesota House passed legislation that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2015, increase the rate each subsequent year based on inflation, conform the state to the federal 40 hour work week, and protect tipped workers from having their wages cut. Governor Mark Dayton went on record saying he would sign a $9.50 minimum wage increase.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Senate decided to pass a bill to raise the wage to $7.75, only 50 cents higher than the federal minimum wage. By the time session ended, a final bill was still left on the table.

Since the end of the 2013 legislative session, a broad and growing coalition of community, faith, labor, non-profit and service-based organizations has come together to make sure a minimum wage increase to at least $9.50 is on Governor Dayton’s desk early in the 2014 session. We’ve been having conversations with Minnesotans all year and are finding that a significant minimum wage increase enjoys broad support. During the state fair, more than 5,000 people signed postcards showing their support. We’re knocking on doors. We’re making phone calls. We’re showing up at town meetings. This is a campaign with serious momentum.

The time is right. On January 28, President Obama signed an executive order raising the minimum wage on all new federal contracts to $10.10 per hour and called for a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 in his State of the Union Speech.

With the President of the United States, the Governor of Minnesota, the Minnesota House, the Minnesota DFL Party, and a clear majority of Minnesotans all supporting a minimum wage increase of at least $9.50 per hour; this should be an easy and smart decision for a Minnesota Senate with a DFL majority.

The clock is ticking. There is still much work to be done. It is vital that we continue to tell our State Senators that a minimum wage increase to at least $9.50 per hour is passed early in the 2014 session. Please visit the coalition website at www.raisethewagemn.org to get in contact with the campaign, volunteer for a phone bank, and to contact your Senator.

– Shar Knutson is president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor federation with more than 1,000 affiliate unions representing more than 300,000 working people.

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Report shows passenger service workers earn poverty-level wages at MSP Airport

October 29, 2013 by
State Rep. Ryan Winkler (right), co-author of a bill to raise Minnesota's minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, greets Darcy Landau before a press conference outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

State Rep. Ryan Winkler (right), co-author of a bill to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, greets Darcy Landau before a press conference outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

As a military veteran with a college education, Darcy Landau is overqualified for his job as a wheelchair agent at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Earning wages of $7.25 per hour, Landau struggles to make monthly car payments, pay back his student loans and meet his basic needs.

“If it weren’t for the VA,” Landau said, “I don’t know how I’d survive.”

Landau’s is hardly an isolated case. Low-wage jobs have provided the fragile foundation for the current U.S. economic recovery, accounting for more than half of the jobs created since 2010. As more and more adults turn to retail, service, hospitality and temporary jobs, public scrutiny of wages paid in those industries is increasing.

A report unveiled yesterday sheds light on the working conditions of Landau and roughly 600 other passenger-service workers at MSP, including cabin cleaners, wheelchair agents and motorized cart drivers. Its findings reveal that many earn wages at or near the legal minimum, even after many years on the job. Few can afford the health care insurance offered by their employers, and many  say they are forced to access public services like food stamps and Medicaid to meet their basic needs.

Jordan Ash, an organizer for Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union, which compiled the report, said the public is essentially “subsidizing poverty wages at MSP” to the tune of $1.7 million per year.

Local 26 has been working with passenger-service workers on a union-organizing drive for the last two years. But at a press conference outside Terminal 1 yesterday, workers and community leaders pointed to the report’s findings as yet another reason to raise the state’s minimum wage.

[Click here to sign the petition in support of a $9.50 minimum wage in Minnesota.]

“We can’t afford to live with a $7.25 minimum wage, to pay our bills,” said Misrek Anbesse, who has worked as a cabin cleaner for the last four years. “We have to look for a second job.”

“I have seven kids,” said Samson Yeshitla, who earns $7.25 working for G2 Secure Staff, a Texas-based contractor that provides Delta Air Lines with wheelchair agents and electric-cart drivers. “It’s hard to survive.”

Yeshitla is one of more than 300 parents working for poverty-level wages at the airport, according to Local 26’s report. Peggy Flanaganan, executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, said increasing in the minimum wage would directly improve the lives of airport workers’ children, too.

“We know if we increase minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, over 137,000 children will directly benefit,” she said, pointing to research by the Brookings Institution indicating a $1,000 increase in families’ incomes corresponds with tangibly improved educational outcomes for their children.

State Rep. Ryan Winkler, lead author of a bill to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, also stood with airport workers. His bill, supported by the labor-backed Raise the Wage coalition, would increase wages for 360,000 Minnesotans, and boost purchasing power by $400 million throughout the state’s economy.

“It’s important to remember the economy is leaving behind a great many workers,” Winkler said. “Hard work should deliver somebody a decent quality of life. It’s about time we all start doing better.”

Local 26 already represents about 200 cleaning workers at MSP. Under the terms of their collective bargaining agreement, they earn, on average, $14 per hour with health benefits.

That’s why workers like Landau aren’t just fighting for an increase in the minimum wage; they’re also working to form a union.

“This is only the beginning,” Landau said. “We’ll continue to fight until we get justice.”

Airport workers Samson Yeshitla (left) and Misrek Anbesse join a press conference in support of raising the state's minimum wage outside Terminal 1.

Airport workers Samson Yeshitla (left) and Misrek Anbesse join a press conference in support of raising the state’s minimum wage outside Terminal 1.

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John Clay: $9.50 minimum wage lifts up women, children, people of color

September 30, 2013 by
John Clay is an economist for the JOBS NOW Coalition.

John Clay is an economist policy director for the JOBS NOW Coalition.

The Minnesota Legislature is expected to take up the $9.50 an hour minimum wage bill in the first weeks of the 2014 legislative session. Raising Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 an hour would mean a raise for 360,000 working Minnesotans and significant gains in purchasing power for women and people of color, according to a soon-to-be-released Jobs Now Coalition report. The analysis looks at the number of Minnesota workers whose wages are below $9.50, as well as those above this mark who would likely see a raise due to what economists call the “spillover effect,” as employers adjust pay scales upward.

Although about 150,000 fewer women are employed in Minnesota than men, a greater number of women are working low-wage jobs. As a result, the majority of the 360,000 workers who would benefit from a $9.50 an hour Minnesota minimum wage – 202,133 workers – are women. A stronger minimum wage policy would boost purchasing power among Minnesota women by nearly $256 million annually. Empowering women is a key tool in eradicating poverty and closing the equity gap that hampers educational opportunities for Minnesota children. At last count, more than half of the state’s working mothers were their families’ primary bread winners, according to the Center on Women and Public Policy at the U of M’s Humphrey School. Its February 2012 report further found that “68 percent of female-headed households in rental housing … are paying costs that exceed 30 percent of their income.”

This has a profound impact on Minnesota children. As of 2011, nearly 260,000 children were living with parents who considered working poor, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count data center. About 137,000 Minnesota children would benefit if the state raised the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour. Children from families with sufficient financial resources are far more likely than children from economically disadvantaged families to start kindergarten ready to succeed in school and later in life, according to research cited by Children’s Defense Fund of Minnesota. An additional $1,000 of average annual family income throughout early childhood can result in higher reading and math scores for children in low-income families.

A minimum wage bump to $9.50 also would begin helping Minnesota address the growing disparity in wealth among white Minnesotans and people of color. While the statewide poverty rate is 12 percent, it’s 28 percent for people of color, and 37 percent for African Americans, according to data compiled by St. Paul-based Wilder Research. More than 83,000 workers of color would see a raise. That includes 22 percent of black workers, 29 percent of Hispanic workers and 17 percent of Asian workers. A $9.50 minimum wage offers an important tool, with other anti-poverty efforts, to begin building wealth.

Our upcoming report shows that workers across the demographic spectrum would benefit from a $9.50 an hour minimum wage, and that annual consumer spending power in Minnesota would increase by $470 million, giving a much-needed boost to sales at local businesses.

– John Clay, policy director for JOBS NOW Coalition, originally authored this report for Minnesota 2020’s blog.

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