Amendment 42: minimum wage for Colorado
Re: “‘No’ on 42: Wrong solution for wages,” Oct. 16 editorial.
You are right that the best solution would be for Congress to pass a nationwide increase in the minimum wage (without the tax breaks to businesses attached). But they haven’t in more than nine years. We don’t have a reason to believe that it will happen there. Twenty-two other states have taken the step to raise the minimum wage above the shameful national rate. The annual increase, tied to increases in the cost of living, is a necessary part of Amendment 42. If inflation affects business owners, it affects workers.
A person who works full-time should not live in poverty. A business owner who cannot pay a wage high enough to keep a worker out of poverty should not be in business.
Mary Brewerton, Denver
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As a member of the “working poor,” I would urge everyone to vote “no” on Amendment 42. My family was living on minimum wage when the last increase was passed. Immediately my husband’s work hours were cut and soon thereafter he lost his job and had great difficulty finding another one. Additionally, the cost of items we purchased went up to reflect the higher cost of workers. Raising the minimum wage didn’t help us then and it will hurt us now.
Raising the minimum wage doesn’t solve the root problems of families in poverty. It also radically devalues the wages of those, like us, who are slowly scraping their way up the wage ladder. Those who have gained raises and make just slightly more then minimum wage will, essentially, receive pay cuts if Amendment 42 is passed.
There are things that can help the working poor. They take real effort and small financial investments. Things like increasing financial aid programs, assisted housing and GED programs can help give workers the skills to earn better wages. That’s real help, not a feel-good proposal designed to make politicians look good.
Please vote against Amendment 42, and let’s work for real solutions to poverty.
Judith Martinez, Lakewood
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As a small-business owner and retired vocational school instructor, I have been an advocate for a living minimum wage for a long time. I was glad when Amendment 42 made the November ballot, but I worried about apprehension in the business community about a raise in the minimum wage.
I did some research and found that in states where the minimum wage pays more than the federal standard, the economies were stronger and small businesses did better than in states with lower minimum wages. This should be good news for Colorado businesses.
My own business has seen good years and bad. I know what it’s like to feel financially strapped because the money just wasn’t coming in. Minimum-wage workers must feel strapped all the time.
One thing I know is that paying people for their hard work really does pay off for employers. Workers are more loyal and dedicated and turnover rates are lower. I’m going to support raising the minimum wage in November, and I urge you to join me. Rewarding hard work with fair wages is just Colorado common sense. Vote “yes” on Amendment 42.
Catherine Bajcsi, Denver
Children as hunters
Re: “The hunt for young guns; Sport’s future may rest on programs to pull in kids,” Oct. 15 news story.
I would like to express my extreme joy in your article’s statement that hunters’ numbers are decreasing. However, I would also like to express my disappointment in your article’s apparent support of hunting and its accompanying encouragement of violence – especially with children. How in the world could kids as young as 8 be either knowledgeable or proficient in the use of firearms and/or humane treatment of animals in the hunting “process”? To encourage in children the hunting and killing of animals is analogous to condoning cruelty, disrespect and unkindness toward all beings, not to even mention the safety issues.
No wonder we have such violence in the world, with kids thinking it is OK to indiscriminately kill a living being just for the heck of it and to be encouraged by their parents and the rest of the public to believe that hunting is a “thrill,” without even considering the safety issues or the animals’ feelings.
Kathy Hixson, Lakewood
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