MIRAMANT’S MINIMUM WAGE BILL WOULD BOOST TO $9.75 AN HOUR

Posted: March 23, 2015 | Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development, Senator Miramant

AUGUSTA –The state’s Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development committee held a public hearing on nine bills aimed at increasing the state’s minimum wage. One of the bills, sponsored by Democratic State Senator Dave Miramant of Camden, would raise the minimum wage to $9.75 per hour beginning on October 1, 2015.

 

Sen. David Miramant of Camden

Sen. David Miramant of Camden

Senator Miramant said, “When I looked back at the value of the minimum wage, it hit an all-time high just as I was starting to work in 1969. The minimum wage was $1.60 per hour but that gave me the equivalent of a $10.19 wage in 2015 dollars. This is why we were able to start a large middle class through this period. We have been falling behind ever since!”

 

Currently, the minimum wage in Maine is $7.50 an hour and has remained at that level since 2009. Mainers working full-time at minimum-wage jobs earn just $15,600 a year, which is $4,190 below the federal poverty level.

 

Senator Miramant added, “Because we have failed to tie the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or some reliable method of indexing it to inflation, workers are being left behind in this state and in many others. The jobs that were supposed to be entry level and only short term have become an ongoing reality for far too many workers in our hobbled economy.”

 

The LCRED committee will hold a work session on LD 77, “An Act To Raise the Minimum Wage” in the coming weeks.


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