A business coalition called Respect Colorado’s Constitution has launched its opposition to a November ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage by focusing on the proposed change to the state constitution.
If approved by voters, Amendment 42 would raise Colorado’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 per hour beginning in January. The new minimum wage would then adjust annually with inflation. The amendment also calls for the minimum wage of wait staff and others who receive tips to rise from $2.13 to $3.83 and to adjust annually with inflation.
Respect Colorado’s Constitution plans to run TV ads to educate voters, said Chris Howes, who is chairing the campaign.
Howes declined to specify how much money the group plans to raise.
The coalition includes the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Downtown Denver Partnership, Colorado Concern, the Colorado Restaurant Association, the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, the Colorado Retail Council and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Given the relatively low unemployment rate, only a small minority of workers make the current minimum wage. But a crucial component of the minimum-wage proposal is that it could rise with inflation to $7 or more in future years.
“If this were to pass, I think it’s a legitimate concern that many employees will be laid off and others will not be hired in the first place,” Howes said.
Coloradans for a Fair Minimum Wage, a coalition of groups that gathered more than 130,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot, said it expected the opposition.
“It’s not going to change our message that hard work deserves fair pay,” said Ben Hanna, a spokesman for the Colorado Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, a group supporting the minimum-wage measure. Labor groups, including the AFL-CIO,also back the initiative.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
