Monday, January 28, 2013
Governor announced Monday his plan to increase minimum wage by $1 over three years.
After vetoing a Democratic Party-backed minimum wage bill Monday, Gov. Chris Christie announced his own plan to increase the state’s minimum wage by $1 over three years while restoring a 5 percent cut he made in 2011 to the state's Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor. Christie's plan is an alternative to the Democratic minimum-wage measure that would have raised the state’s minimum wage by $1.25 to $8.50 per hour in one fell swoop. The blue approach also would have linked automatic yearly increases to the Consumer Price Index, an idea the governor rejected. Senate President Steve Sweeney has said that in the event of a Christie veto, Democrats would try to pass a constitutional amendment. The governor's plan amounts to a smaller…
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The state Senate approved a 2013 referendum on raising the minimum wage and tying it to yearly increases
A proposal to raise the state's minimum wage could bypass Governor Christie and go directly to voters. During Monday's Senate hearings, Senate President Steve Sweeney of Gloucester County received preliminary support for a resolution calling for a Constitutional Amendment to allow for an increased minimum wage and tie future yearly increases to national economic data. The initiative would be placed on the 2013 ballot for voter approval. Sweeney's proposal, which was approved by committee 7-6, would effectively remove Christie from the approval process. Christie had previously indicated he would not sign a bill that included automatic indexed adjustments, according to a report on nj.com. “For years, New Jersey has assigned a dollar amount …
Monday, May 28, 2012
Assembly debate on minimum wage increase another example of the polarization of the parties, columnist says.
Imagine yourself a minimum-wage worker. You earn $7.25 an hour. You work full-time, eight hours a day, maybe flipping burgers, maybe scanning groceries, maybe taking tickets at a movie theater. You make $290 a week, $15,080 a year. You’re renting an apartment in Morris or Somerset counties, clearly, you can’t afford to buy a home. Rent is $1,233 a month. After you pay that rent–hopefully it includes utilities–you’ve got $284 to spend. For the entire year. It’s probably best to take a job in food service, where you might be able to snatch a handful of fries or fistful of popcorn for free, because the $5.40 you have left over each week won’t even buy one day’s worth of healthy meals. Given all this, how is it possible that any Assembly …
Reality Checker
10:21 pm on Monday, January 28, 2013
If it was up to the Governor we would all work for the wages they pay in China and India. All except him of course as when it comes to Christie's home front we know he doesn't trim the fat. Can anyone really live on 8.50/hour for a 40 hour work week that typically they don't receive health insurance on? Ok so fast food goes up .05 or it impacts an already healthy bottom line that the owner is … more ›