Massachusetts Speaker of the House Bob DeLeo spoke to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Thursday, talking specifically about unemployment insurance and the perpetual battle over the state-regulated minimum wage.
At the end of 2013, the state Senate voted by a margin of 32 to 7 to raise the current minimum wage from $8 per hour to $11 per hour over a three-year period while making incremental increases during that time.
But the legislature has been met with some opposition of the raise, mostly from small businesses and tipped-wage businesses like restaurants which contend that they’ll be unable to successfully operate should they be forced to pay their employees what’s already higher than the federal mandate.
In that respect, Speaker DeLeo has proposed a compromise to revise the minimum wage ceiling from $11 to $10.50 per hour.
“We have to continuously send the message to businesses locally, nationally and around the world that we understand their needs,” said the speaker in his address.
Per the new proposal, an increase would still happen over an incremental period of time jumping first to $9 per hour on July 1, then to $10 per hour on July 1, 2015, and finally to $10.50 on July 1, 2016.
Similarly, tipped-wage employees who currently earn a base rate of $2.63 per hour, would see a systematic boost in pay. If enacted, they’d see a rise in pay to $3 per hour, then to $3.35, and finally to $3.75 in the same aforementioned timespan.
“These two rates will be treated separately,” continued Speaker DeLeo. “In the interest of providing employers with stability and predictability, they will not be indexed to any economic factors.”
By not indexing these rates, they will not be tied to the rate of inflation and an automatic raise annually.
The minimum wage increase bill has since made its way to the House where it’s sat since the Senate passed it last year. Now that the speaker is spearheading another avenue of fair pay, we’ll wait to see the bill revised under his watch and be reintroduced to the Senate. When they will happen, though, is yet to be determined.
But for all of this to amount to anything, noted Speaker DeLeo, the commonwealth must commit to the up-and-coming generations through emphasizing STEM education, preparing students to meet the requirements of high-tech and manufacturing jobs and “ways we can push UMass to greater heights.” The latter can be achieved by addressing affordability at the state university, which the speaker vowed to do.
After all, explained Speaker DeLeo, Massachusetts boasts “components of the kind of attractive environment where companies and workers want to be. We in greater Boston are fortunate to be a leading region for technology and the innovation economy.”
