Minimum Wage Raise: Are You Ready For the Blog-In, Because It's Time to Go

Um, sorry for the title of this post, but I guess I'm still in Neil Young mode. Anyway, read all about it -- Chantal Foster over at Duke City Fix is organizing a local blog-in at this Thursday's special meeting of the Albuquerque City Council on Martin Heinrich's minimum wage proposal. Starting at 6:00 PM on April 20th, the Council will hear testimony on a proposed raise in the city's minimum wage and engage in a debate on the bill's merits. Members may well vote on the measure that evening as well.

Local bloggers of all political stripes, including DFNM, are being encouraged to live blog from the hearing. Chantal recently was instrumental in convincing the City to install free wi-fi web access in the Council Chambers, which bloggers can utilize Thursday evening to post hearing updates.

Now is the time to show up and testify on behalf of raising Albuquerque's minimum wage. Or at least to show up and cheer others on. Or at the very least, to visit local blogs that evening to keep up with what's going on at the hearing.

The Heinrich Minimum Wage Bill
A recent Albuquerque Tribune article describes Heinrich's proposal, which was crafted as a compromise measure based on many hours of work by the Councilor in negotiating with both minimum wage advocates like ACORN and business interests, including the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. Click to read Heinrich's bill. The proposal calls for a raise in the city's minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.75 an hour on January 1, 2007, to $7.15 on January 1, 2008, and to $7.50 beginning January 1, 2009.

Mayor Chavez Threatens a Veto
Unfortunately but not surprisingly, Albuquerque's conservative-leaning (or something) Democratic mayor has threatened to veto Heinrich's compromise bill if it isn't further watered down. He's working in cahoots with Councilor Ken Sanchez, another alleged Democrat, who represents the primarily working class District 1. A whole bunch of Sanchez's constituents would directly benefit from Heinrich's proposal and can certainly use every penny they can get in a raise.

Now the Albuquerque Tribune is reporting that Sanchez will introduce an amended bill, to cut the wage increase by 25 cents an hour at each phase. ACORN and other fair wage advocates are opposed to further compromise. No kidding. I'd love to see Mayor Marty or Ken Sanchez live on $6.50 an hour, or even on $7.50 an hour, which ACORN wants immediately. The excuse Sanchez is making is that a raise to $6.75 an hour would drive out jobs. What employers could Sanchez and the Mayor have in mind who would rather move out of Albuquerque than pay the miserly rate of $6.75 an hour? Maybe I'll ask that question at the hearing.

How We Got Here
The original push for a boost in the minimum wage to $7.50, without a phase-in and with an annual indexing to inflation, was very narrowly defeated in last November's municipal election. Most analysts blamed the defeat on a clause that permitted access to public areas of businesses for the education of workers. A similar bill at the NM Legislature earlier this year just missed passage.

Afterwards, ACORN began a petition-gathering effort to get the $7.50 raise on this November's ballot, but suspended the project when Councilor Heinrich came up with a compromise bill that has the support of most players. Except for Mayor Chavez, Councilor Sanchez and perhaps Councilor Cadigan, all of whom claim they are Democrats. Cadigan has announced he will be submitting an amended bill as well. If the Heinrich bill is further watered down, ACORN plans to restart their petition drive to get a much stronger bill on the November ballot in Albuquerque. I'll be right there with them.

You can let your City Council know your views on a raise in the minimum wage .