Colorado voters in November will decide whether to lift the state’s minimum wage from $8.31 an hour to $12 an hour by 2020. But some groups backing that increase are pushing for an even higher minimum wage.
Local religious leaders, labor groups and minimum wage workers rallied on the steps of the state Capitol on Monday, calling for the state to adopt a minimum wage of $15 an hour.
“It is not possible to live on low wages. People need an increase,” said the Rev. Patrick Lee Demmer Jr. of the Graham Memorial Community Church of God in Christ in Denver.
The Denver Fight for 15 rally was part of the “Higher Ground Moral Day of Action” organized by the Rev. William J. Barber II, founder of the North Carolina social justice group Repairers of the Breach.
Denver was among more than two dozen state capitals where workers and religious leaders called on political leaders to lift the minimum wage. After the rally, a small group presented a “moral declaration” to a staff member in Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office.
What started two years ago as protests by discontented fast food workers targeting has grown into a national movement with some big wins.
California and New York are moving toward $15 an hour by 2022, while Washington, D.C., and Seattle have passed similar measures.
Rachelle Bainter, a McDonald’s employee speaking at the rally, said that after 27 years in the local fast food industry, she is making only $8.65 an hour and doesn’t have any paid sick days, leaving her dependent on family members for support.
She called $12 an hour a good step in the right direction, but added that even $15 an hour is not enough money to make it in today’s economy.
“We are not asking to get rich. We are only asking for enough to be able to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, and the lights on,” Bainter said.
Drafters of Amendment 70, the state minimum-wage measure, avoided asking for an immediate increase or a higher minimum wage of $15 an hour, in part to give employers time to adjust and minimize job losses, said Rich Jones, director of policy and research at the Bell Policy Center in Denver.
Opponents of Amendment 70, however, argue the real goal isn’t $12 an hour, but $15 an hour, and that approving a one-size-fits-all minimum wage increase will disproportionately harm rural communities and small businesses.
“When we tried to seek a compromise on the minimum-wage increase back in March that would protect rural communities and small businesses, the unions told us their real goal was $15 an hour and the protests today should make that crystal clear,” said Tyler Sandberg, head of the Keep Colorado Working campaign, which seeks to defeat Amendment 70.
Complicating the issue, the Colorado legislature early last decade barred local governments from implementing a minimum wage different than the state’s. Sandberg said because Amendment 70 would be part of the state constitution, it could have trumped that restriction and created tiered urban and rural minimum wages, an approach taken in Oregon.
Although the primary focus was for a higher minimum wage, those at the rally also called for paid sick leave and opposition to changes that would diminish the ability of labor unions to organize and represent workers.
Luis Castillo, a security officer at Denver International Airport for the past 19 years, called on those present to fight “right-to-work” efforts, which he called “right to work for less.”
Right-to-work, which has come up several times in the Colorado legislature, would prevent employers from making participation in a labor union a condition of employment in unionized workplaces.
