Romney slashes proposed minimum wage boost
by Statehouse News ServiceJULY 21, 2006 -- Gov. Mitt Romney on Friday sent lawmakers changes to their plan to raise the minimum wage from $6.75 to $8 an hour, offering instead a plan to raise the wage floor by 25 cents per hour.
The governor's plan would raise the rate next year to $7, reflecting the 3.8 percent rate of inflation. His amendment empowers the administration to recommend future adjustments on two-year cycles.
Factored into the review, the amendment says, would be "the rate of inflation, the minimum wage in other states, the Commonwealth's competitiveness, and the status of the Commonwealth's labor market."
The Legislature wants to lift the minimum wage to $7.50 next year and $8 by Jan. 1, 2008.
Administration and Finance Secretary Thomas Trimarco said, "That's too much of an increase, too sudden for small businesses. It affects entry-level jobs, that's where it hits. It's not the Gillettes or the Fidelitys."
During an interview in a State House hallway, Trimarco said, "I think he agrees that it should be adjusted upward, but not in one fell swoop at such an amount."
Democrats and union officials quickly pounced on Romney's proposal.
Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington), sponsor of a more aggressive measure than the one passed by the Legislature, distributed Romney-Healey campaign literature Friday and said Romney was reneging on a 2002 campaign promise to raise the wage to $6.96 in 2004 and index it to an inflation rate that would have pulled it to $7.69 per hour by 2008.
"I expect that the House and Senate will reject his dishonesty and restore the purchasing power of the minimum wage," Marzilli said in a statement.
Added Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes: "It is deplorable that Governor Romney would belittle hard-working people by putting forth his paltry and insulting increase." In a statement, Haynes called Romney's move a favor for Romney's "financial right wing tennis buddies."
Romney's amendment subjects the wage level to review every two years, with the administration and finance secretary consulting the economic development secretary, the directors of labor and of workforce development, before recommending revisions to the governor and Legislature.
Once the House and Senate act on Romney's amendment, he then has 10 days to sign the bill, veto it, or let it become law without his signature. Should Romney choose to veto the bill and do so after July 31, the Legislature would not be able to override that veto because formal sessions end July 31.
Roll call votes needed to complete veto overrides must be taken during formal sessions.
Before sending Romney the bill, the two chambers dueled over its details, with the Senate supporting a two-year timeline and the House looking for three. Earlier, the Senate had looked for the inflation indexing, which the House resisted much to the consternation of the state AFL-CIO president, whose organization withheld endorsements of traditional allies because the bill had stalled.
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