AUGUSTA — Increasing the wage for the state’s lowest-paid workers is on the agenda for Democrats in the Legislature, and Republicans are likely to counter with right-to-work legislation that will be a nonstarter for the pro-union House majority.
On Wednesday, rookie state Rep. Gina Melaragno, D-Auburn, offered a proposal that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 and afterward index it to the state’s average wage.
“Wages have been stagnant for a long time and it means people aren’t getting paid what they are earning and working people are living in poverty,” Melaragno said Wednesday. “We need to understand that the value of our currency is not stagnant, so wages have to rise with inflation in order to keep our economy healthy — so working people don’t have to live in poverty.”
Melaragno’s supporters say they can’t make ends meet on Maine’s minimum wage of $7.50 an hour.
Auburn mother Katie McDaniel said she works full time and doesn’t make enough to cover basic expenses for her family. After a failed marriage, McDaniel said, finding housing and feeding her child was a struggle because she made just over Maine’s minimum.
“You cannot afford to have a place to live, electricity, food, health care and a way to commute on only $7.50 an hour,” McDaniel said.
Now in school to get a better job, McDaniel is one example of those in the struggling working class, Melaragno said.
Still, the bill faces an uphill battle at the State House, where Republican Gov. Paul LePage is guaranteed to veto any measure that he considers anti-business.
LePage and his allies are pushing for a law change that would allow workers to opt out of paying union dues in workplaces represented by unions.
Maine would be the only state in New England to become a so-called “right-to-work” state, which Republicans say would draw industries with good-paying jobs to the state.
“I think we need to focus on creating a business climate in Maine that will create optimum-wage career jobs,” state Rep. Larry Lockman, R-Amherst, said. “The best way to do that is to make Maine the first state in New England to guarantee workplace freedom.”
But Democrats in the House majority are unlikely to support the measure. Melaragno said she would oppose a compromise of swapping a wage increase for right-to-work legislation.
“As an hourly worker my whole life, doing good work, I haven’t really witnessed any party do anything for the plight of workers besides unions,” Melaragno said. “Employers haven’t, our government hasn’t in any meaningful way, but unions do.”
Melaragno said the most recent polls in Maine and nationally show voters support a minimum-wage increase.
The Maine People’s Alliance, a left-leaning advocacy organization, has suggested it will push for a statewide ballot question on increasing the minimum wage if the Legislature fails to act in 2015.
Lawmakers will debate the issue in the weeks ahead.
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