Braley, Obey call for minimum wage hike

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By Deirdre Cox Baker | Wednesday, August 02, 2006 | 2 comment(s)

An increase in the minimum wage is long overdue and should be voted on in a straight-up manner, two Democrats said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Bettendorf.

Iowa 1st Congressional District candidate Bruce Braley of Waterloo was joined by U.S. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and Mark Smith, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, at the news conference.

About 40 people attended the event at the United Steelworkers of America Local 105 hall in Bettendorf.

The event was held in response to a move late last week in the U.S. House of Representatives that sent a controversial bill on to the U.S. Senate. The measure calls for a minimum-wage increase from the current $5.15 to $7.25 per hour in three years, but it also would make permanent a cut in the so-called “death tax” for multimillion-dollar estates.

“My position on the minimum wage is to increase it on a straight-up vote,” Braley, a lawyer, said, adding that, if he is elected in November, he will refuse a congressional pay hike until base wages are increased for America’s lowest-paid workers.

Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Mike Whalen of Bettendorf was invited to the news conference, but he did not attend and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Whalen is the founder of Heart of America Restaurants and Inns. He said last month that the challenge for Iowa is to create higher-end jobs that would increase overall wage levels. Whalen also said he might support a minimum-wage increase if, for example, it was paired with incentives for small businesses.

“The best pull-up on wages is when we create higher-end jobs and people can move into those jobs,” he said in late July. He added that it has been a “long, long time since any skilled positions were at the minimum wage.”

Smith charged Tuesday that since the minimum wage was last increased in 1997, Congress has raised its own pay level eight times. Iowans who earn the minimum wage bring home an average of $177.25 for a 40-hour work week, he added.

The Federation of Labor has collected 2,500 petitions in Iowa calling for a minimum-wage increase, he said, with about 900 of those coming from the 1st District in the eastern part of the state that includes the Quad-City area. Some 13,277 workers in Scott County would be directly helped by the minimum-wage hike, he added.

Obey, who hails from Wausau, Wis., is in his 19th term in the U.S. House, having first been elected in 1969. He is a ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

“The current economy is pretty good if you’re a rich person,” he said, explaining that the top 1 percent of Americans are estimated to control 33 percent of the country’s wealth while the bottom 40 percent control 3 percent of the total wealth.

Such economic differences are “obscene,” he said, adding that a minimum-wage increase would help close the gap. On the other hand, an estate tax cut would be too expensive and add billions to the national debt, he added.

“What this is really about is: Whose side are you on? The people who need help the most? Or those who need help the least?”

Caroline Vernon of Davenport asked the Democrats why the wage-hike proposal is only to increase the figure to $7.25 per hour. “That’s still not a living wage,” she said.

The federal minimum wage is intended to be a guideline, Braley replied, adding that it sends a strong message to employers to raise overall wages and benefits.

Dick Fallow of Davenport asked about minimum wages for service workers such waitresses who also receive tips. The Republican-backed bill would figure tips into the average hourly wages, Obey said.

Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com.