It’s possible the Virginia General Assembly will pass minimum wage legislation this year, bumping up the State’s $5.15-per-hour wage, circa 1997, to $7.25. Groups like the Virginia Organizing Project (VOP) (www.virginia-organizing.org) say they’ve lobbied especially hard, and three different versions of a minimum wage bill have been submitted for the 2007 General Assembly session.
 Charlottesville Delegate David Toscano is sponsoring one of three minimum wage bills in the General Assembly this year. Will federal legislators beat the assembly to the punch on raising the paltry $5.15-an-hour rate? |
But it’s looking like Congress might beat them to the punch. A minimum wage bill raising the wage to $7.25 passed the House with favor from 82 Republicans on January 10. The Senate will debate its own version of a minimum wage bill this month, reports The Washington Post, and the climate of Democratic takeover is sure to fan the flames of change.
“We don’t care what level it happens, we just want to see an increase in the minimum wage,” says Joe Szakos with the Charlottesville-based VOP. “We would prefer to have both federal and State so that the State says, ‘Yes, we really believe in this.’”
While federal Democrats may have a shot at minimum wage reform, local Dems may have their hands tied in a Republican-controlled General Assembly. Charlottesville Delegate David Toscano (www.davidtoscano.com) introduced a minimum wage bill, his second in two years in the assembly. He says intellectual trends about the economics of the minimum wage and majority constituent support give the bill a better chance.
Jan Cornell, leader of the Staff Union at UVA, has been following the wage issue in Virginia for over a decade. “The bill doesn’t even make it out of committee…because the Chamber [of Commerce] goes in there and says we’re going to lose jobs,” Cornell says.
The Virginia Chamber of Commerce has traditionally opposed a minimum wage hike, and they’re doing it again this year, confirms Amy Hewett, director of public relations for the chamber. Traditionally, opponents’ argument has been that raising the minimum wage is bad for the economy, hurts businesses and does nothing to increase productivity. This year, state Republicans have had another defense—they say the minimum wage decision should rest at the federal level.