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Groups Launch Effort to Get Minimum Wage Hike Proposal on Maine Ballot

AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine People’s Alliance, with the support of a coalition that includes the Maine AFL-CIO, has launched an effort to put a minimum wage increase proposal on the ballot next year.

The organizers say they believe it’s the only way to get an increase in the current $7.50 an hour minimum, which is opposed by Republicans in Augusta, including Gov. Paul LePage.  

The measure, which will need more than 61,000 valid signatures of Maine voters to place in the hands of the Legislature, would raise the minimum to $9 in 2017, with yearly increases of $1 an hour until 2020. The then $12-an-hour minimum wage would be increased every year, based on the change in the consumer price index.  

Matt Schlobohm, the executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO, says it’s time to address the issue of underpaid workers. "People’s wages and incomes are not keeping up with rising costs. The cost of groceries, child care and housing has gone up for years, but wages haven’t come close to keeping up."
 
Several speakers at a news conference outside the state Capitol urged support for the effort. There are several bills that would raise the minimum wage before the Legislature this session, including proposals very similar to that being advocated by the MPA and the AFL-CIO.  

But Mike Tipping, of the MPA, holds out little hope any will pass. "The Legislature passed a smaller minimum wage increase during the last session and that was vetoed by the governor. I don’t think the governor has changed his mind on that."

Gov. LePage says he does not think that increasing the minimum wage will help improve Maine’s economy, but he does not rule out an increase of some kind, if he is convinced it is warranted.

"I just think that eliminating the income tax would go much, much further than increasing the minimum wage," LePage says. "But I don’t know why they think I would veto anything without trying."

Republicans in both the House and Senate released statements critical of the referendum campaign, saying the proposal could lead to some people losing their jobs. And some Republicans say that, while some increase may be warranted, they cannot support the far reaching proposal put forth by the MPA.

Hampden Republican Andre Cushing is the assistant Senate majority leader. "The indexing would be an unfortunate choice, not because people shouldn’t  be paid a fair wage for the work they do, but indexing is an artificial manner in which you apply the value of somebody’s labor,' Cushing says.

The supporters of the referendum have to collect the signatures by next January to force consideration of the proposal in the second regular session of the Legislature. If they are successful, lawmakers must approve their proposal as it is written or the voters will decide the issues at referendum.

 

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.