{"id":8524,"date":"2017-09-14T16:31:05","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T20:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8524"},"modified":"2017-09-14T16:31:05","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T20:31:05","slug":"will-there-be-a-deal-on-mocos-minimum-wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8524","title":{"rendered":"Will There Be a Deal on MoCo\u2019s Minimum Wage?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

The question of whether Montgomery County will have a $15 minimum wage has simmered for months. \u00a0After County Executive Ike Leggett vetoed Council Member Marc Elrich\u2019s bill last January<\/a>, the county commissioned an ill-fated study on the effects of a wage hike that has been discredited<\/a>.\u00a0 But Elrich, not waiting for any study, introduced a new bill<\/a> that was little different from his previous one.\u00a0 The Executive has now announced his terms for signing it.\u00a0 We reprint his letter to the council below.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We summarize the differences between the bill and the Executive\u2019s terms below.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Advocates for the bill reacted harshly to the Executive\u2019s letter.\u00a0 They sent out the following press release today.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Economists, Community and Labor Groups Slam Executive Leggett Memo Say: \u201cNo More Delay Tactics, Working Families Need a Strong $15 Minimum Wage Now\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Failed Study, Leggett Makes 2nd Attempt to Deny Low-Wage Workers a Living Wage<\/em><\/p>\n

Rockville, MD- A coalition of economists, community and labor groups today condemned Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett over his memo requiring County Council members to follow a set of criteria that would dramatically weaken Council\u2019s $15 minimum wage legislation. The group also demanded that Leggett suspend his attempts to amend an irredeemable study and sign a strong bill before the end of session. Leggett\u2019s minimum wage \u201cstudy,\u201d was widely criticized and eventually halted by the Executive himself.<\/p>\n

The statement below is attributable to Maryland Working Families, the National Employment Law Project (NELP), 32BJ SEIU, Jews United for Justice, Progressive Maryland and CASA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one of the nation\u2019s wealthiest counties, County Executive Leggett is making a second attempt to avoid raising the wage like so many other economically prosperous cities have done successfully. His youth exemption would keep thousands of working men and women under the age of 20 in poverty, leaving them to continue struggling to support themselves and their families. County residents are counting on the Council and the Executive to resist corporate lobbyists whose self-interests are out-of-sync with the needs of working families. It\u2019s time to stop looking for excuses and raise the minimum wage by passing and signing a clean bill, without delayed implementation or exemptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research has shown that overwhelmingly, cities that have raised the wage have not experienced job loss and the local economy continues to prosper. Moreover, a wage increase can reduce reliance on public assistance from a safety net that faces extreme cuts from the Trump administration, placing a heavier burden on local taxpayers.<\/p>\n

With more than 163,000 members in 11 states, including 18,000 in the D.C. Metropolitan Area, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.<\/em><\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

So will there be a deal?\u00a0 Under normal circumstances, the answer is yes.\u00a0 The Executive is recommending a combination of delays and relatively modest adjustments for some categories of workers.\u00a0 He is not proposing a fundamental overhaul of the bill.\u00a0 A properly functioning legislative process would smooth out these details, probably by splitting the differences, and result in a 9-0 vote and a signed bill.\u00a0 That\u2019s how Rockville works most of the time.<\/p>\n

But the circumstances are anything but normal.\u00a0 Three Council Members are running for Executive and five more are running for reelection next year.\u00a0 The two Council Members who are Executive candidates and are sponsoring the bill must decide if they prefer a signed bill or a campaign issue.\u00a0 The bill advocates must decide whether they want another upheld veto which would cause further delay and take their chances with a new Executive and council.\u00a0 These decisions, which are ultimately political in nature, will determine whether there is a deal on minimum wage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco. The question of whether Montgomery County will have a $15 minimum wage has simmered for months. \u00a0After County Executive Ike Leggett vetoed Council Member Marc Elrich\u2019s bill last January, the county commissioned an ill-fated study on the effects of a wage hike that has been discredited.\u00a0 But Elrich, not waiting for any … Continue reading Will There Be a Deal on MoCo\u2019s Minimum Wage?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[151,167,1898],"tags":[1545,1549,1899],"class_list":["post-8524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam-pagnucco","category-ike-leggett","category-minimum-wage","tag-adam-pagnucco","tag-ike-leggett","tag-minimum-wage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-2du","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8528,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524\/revisions\/8528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}