by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Outnumbering the opposition more than 6 to 1, proponents of raising the state’s minimum wage told story after story of economic hardship Thursday at a public hearing convened by the House Committee on General Services and Military Affairs.
The four opponents of the measure stressed the negative blow-back a minimum wage increase would have for businesses and the state’s economy — including the individuals it’s designed to help.
Only a few legislators, aside from committee members and sponsors of the bill, attended the hearing.
H.552was granted an extension on the crossover deadline of March 14. Most bills that didn’t make crossover were effectively dead for the rest of the session.
House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morrisville, has indicated a minimum wage increase, not the paid sick time bill, will receive a vote this spring. Governor Peter Shumlin and three other New England governors have joined President Barack Obama in calling for a gradual increase to $10.10 per hour over three years.
Supporters of H.552 said that’s not enough. They pleaded with lawmakers to exercise their power by instituting a “dignified,” “livable” minimum wage of $15 per hour or more.
They called on everyone to demand not only higher compensation, but also paid sick time. The issues cannot be separated, they testified. Many of the attendees wore trademark red T-shirts from the Vermont Workers’ Center, one of the primary advocacy organizations pushing for both labor initiatives.
James Haslam, executive director of the Vermont Workers Center, said Friday morning that the stories shared Thursday evening illustrate a disconnect between the priorities of Vermonters and those of legislative leadership.
Jim Ramey of Burlington said Vermont can “set the lead” by raising the statewide minimum wage. Photo by Hilary Niles/VTDigger
THE STORIES
Heather Pipino of Barre said she struggled for years through low-wage jobs in retail, food service and office administration. She gradually overcame pride to accept public assistance, and eventually filed for bankruptcy six years ago, at age 36.
She said she once testified at a similar committee hearing to call for a minimum wage increase, tying the rate to annual cost-of-living increases and guaranteed paid sick days for all Vermont workers. She was discouraged about giving the same testimony again, years later.
“I am particularly heart-stricken by the lack of resolve by our leadership on paid time off when people are sick,” Pipino said. “And the ways in which the issues of minimum wages and paid sick days are being pitted against each other, as if both were not the basic, decent and right thing to do. As if both were not essential.”
George Malek, executive director of the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce, testified against the raise. He said higher wages will drive up prices and drive down demand for products, resulting in lost commerce and ultimately lost jobs.
For that reason, Stephen Duke of Calais said raising the minimum wage would accomplish nothing. People will be paid more for their work, but they’ll also have to pay more for products and services.
“They’ll just be handling more money and be in the exact same spot,” Duke said.
“That’s not to say no one would win,” Malek said. “Others will lose. And they will lose everything.”
Shayne Spence, outreach and development coordinator for the Ethan Allen Institute, testified against raising the minimum wage. Photo by Hilary Niles/VTDigger
Shayne Spence, outreach and development coordinator at the Ethan Allen Institute, said the true minimum wage is zero.
“Because that’s what you’re going to get when there isn’t a job out there for you,” Spence said.
He said he was lucky to start his working life at age 15 with a minimum wage job at McDonald’s — a position in which compensation scarcely climbed in the three-and-a-half years he spent there.
By that time, Spence recounted, he had experience to build upon. Meanwhile, friends who had waited to start working became trapped in debt, working entry-level, low-wage jobs at precisely the time they started spending more money to support themselves as adults. That debt starts a cycle, he said, and that cycle becomes a trap.
To encourage employment for young people, Spence suggested creating an exemption from minimum wage laws for people under 18. Other opponents floated ideas such as tiered minimum wages, depending on the size of a business, or reducing the tax burden of low-wage earners instead of raising the minimum amount they could be paid.
Those solutions did not entirely square with some of the consequences of low-wage living described by H.552 supporters, however.
Several people said they could afford only “substandard” housing for themselves and their children. Others said they could not afford to live near where they worked, which posed a challenge with the cost of transportation.
Jim Ramey of Burlington, who works as a forklift operator, said he recently had to spend $650 on car repairs.
“These things come up, and there’s not a savings for that,” Ramey said.
His tale struck a recurrent theme. Several people defined a “livable” wage as one that allows people to put money aside.
“A livable wage is one that allows people to plan. And save,” said Mary Crowley of Essex Junction, who works as a caregiver at an assisted living facility and as a waitress at a Friendly’s restaurant. She said she hears a lot from politicians about building the middle class, but people can’t raise their standard of living without savings.
Health impacts, educational achievement among young people, and the economic stimulus higher wages would carry for Vermont businesses also were mentioned. Some who testified said education had not helped them out of poverty. Others said student debt weighed them down.
Sean Crumb, of the Vermont Campground Association and the Crown Point Camping Area, said his and other businesses could not support “such a rapid increase in labor costs.” He called for better education and training for work force development, more tax incentives for job-creating companies and less regulation to facilitate business growth.
“The state of Vermont must invest in its own future and build its manufacturing base,” Crumb said. “The state cannot support itself on the service industry alone.”
The General Services Committee, which handles labor bills in the House, has no official deadline for voting H.552 out of committee, according to the Speaker’s office. If it does leave the committee, Smith is expected to bring it to the full chamber for a vote.
To be considered in the Senate, the bill will first need to clear the Senate Committee on Rules for a reciprocal extension of the crossover deadline.
Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell, D-Windsor, was noncommittal Friday morning about the bill’s prospects in his chamber. He said the Democratic caucus had not given it much consideration, because its fate in the House remained uncertain. He added that as a member of the rules committee he would vote for it to go to committee “so we can at least have that conversation.”
Campbell resisted the idea of raising the minimum wage above the governor’s target figure.
“I support $10.10,” Campbell said. “If it’s going to be $15, I don’t think so. If it’s going to be $12, I don’t think so.”