Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The Fight for $15 Coalition is basking in the glow of victory Friday now that the Maryland Legislature has rejected Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage from the current $10.10 an hour to $15 an hour by 2025.
“When workers have more money, they’ll spend more money that’s poured into smaller businesses,” said Coalition Chair Ricarra Jones, excited that Democratic lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto.
“It felt like he turned his back on families in need,” Jones said about Hogan’s veto.
Within hours of the governor’s veto, the House of Delegates voted 96-43 for the override on Thursday, while the Senate voted 35 to 12.
Under the bill, the minimum wage would gradually increase to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2025. All employees in Maryland would have to pay at least $11 an hour by Jan. 1, 2020. Employees with 15 or more workers would have to pay at least $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2025 but employers with 14 or fewer workers would have until 2026 to boost pay to $15 an hour. The bill should be following this schedule for upcoming years, said Sen. Cory V. McCray, D-Baltimore City, the lead sponsor of the bill.
This measure would cost Maryland more than 99,000 jobs, Hogan said.
“A recent study on the issue of a $15 minimum wage concluded that Maryland private sector employment would be reduced by over 99,000 jobs and our state’s economic output would decline by more than $61 billion over the next decade,” Hogan said in defense of a compromise he had offered lawmakers earlier.
“This same report estimates that more than half of the job losses would be in small businesses,” he said. “I am extremely concerned that a dramatic and geographically disproportionate increase in our minimum wage will negatively impact our competitiveness and harm our state’s economy.”
Jones told The Baltimore Watchdog in a phone interview that the Legislature’s action will benefit the state’s economy, specifically small businesses.
Hogan, in a March 8 letters, asked lawmakers to raise pay to $12.10 by 2022.
“I would submit to you that no matter how laudable the goal, we must carefully consider the policy implications of a dramatic and untested increase in the minimum wage,” Hogan said in the letter.
Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said, “Raising the minimum wage is a vital investment in Maryland’s workforce that will strengthen the economy and help businesses and communities thrive.”
Barron-Menza said the raised minimum wage will “boost sales as workers can afford to spend more money at local businesses. And nothing drives job creation more than consumer demand.”
Maryland’s current wage of $10.10 an hour took effect last July 1, although both Prince George’s and Montgomery counties pay slightly more to workers.
State Rep. Diana Fennell, D-Prince George’s County, sponsored the House bill.
Rochelle Cowan, a local college student, said the pay raise will help students like her who work full-time but still struggle to meet monthly commitments.
“Some people may not have the education to get a certain job, so a minimum wage job is what pays the bills,” said Cowan.
However, some Maryland residents doubt that the pay raise will be helpful to all minimum-wage workers in the state.
“It’s not going to raise now, not all at once,” said Bowie resident Felicia Lawrence. “With the way cost of living is going up, $15 isn’t going to be enough for people like me, who have a family and more.”
The Maryland Restaurant Association opposed the wage increase.
An op-ed piece written by Melvin Thompson of Maryland Restaurant Association discussed the opposition of the wage raise for restaurant workers.
“Most restaurants strongly oppose a $15 starting wage because it would be unsustainable for our industry to pay such high wages for low-skill, entry-level jobs,” Thompson wrote. “Ultimately, some restaurants won’t be able to maintain an increase of labor cost.”
Some companies, such as Starbucks, worry little about debates over minimum wage because their employees earn well above the minimum and receive annual pay raises.
“Anytime minimum wage is raised it helps the economy,” said Towson Starbucks manager Eric Fitter, who beamed with pride that Starbucks is ahead of the curve.
Some Starbucks workers take state lawmakers to task for just now looking at a raise.
“It should’ve already been raised,” said Semhal Selamavi, working the Starbucks counter. “Where minimum wage is now can’t support a whole family.”