U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D- Mass., and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards threw their weight behind minimum-wage initiatives on the ballot in Colorado and five other states Monday.
In a conference call with reporters from across the country the two predicted victory for the referendums and a change in the national minimum.
“We have a wildfire that is going across this country in support of the minimum wage,” said Kennedy. “We see it in the anxiety on behalf of our colleagues in the Senate who are frightened to death of this issue.”
Colorado voters will decide Nov. 7 whether to approve a ballot initiative that would amend the state’s constitution to increase the minimum wage above the federally mandated $5.15 an hour to $6.85 an hour.
Amendment 42 would automatically link future increases to a consumer price index. The change to Colorado’s constitution would supercede any new national minimum.
Colorado business groups oppose the amendment, saying it would cement into place a flawed formula for raising wages. The CPI, compiled by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics twice a year, measures 38 areas nationally. In Colorado, prices in the Denver, Boulder and Greeley region are measured.
Using the index would be unfair to businesses elsewhere in the state, said Jan Rigg, spokeswoman for a business-backed group that is fighting the proposal, Respect our Constitution. The amendment would also require raising the wage even if the economy was weak and businesses were already suffering, she said.
Ballots in Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio also include a proposed boost above the wage set by Congress in 1996.
But only Nevada and Ohio would include the change in their constitutions. Nevada would be indexed to inflation but yearly increases would be capped at 3 percent. Ohio’s change wouldn’t be indexed to inflation, said Rigg.
Democrats have made increasing the national minimum a campaign issue, wanting to increase the national minimum from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.
Democrats see an increase in the wage as a vote getter.
“I believe it will motivate some to come to the polls who might be tired of politics and might be tired of politicians,” said Edwards, a Democrat of North Carolina who may be a presidential candidate in 2008.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
