Several Chattanooga City Councilmen still say they’d like to see the city adopt a higher minimum wage than that of the country, but Hamilton County legislators aren’t ready to help them make that happen.
Councilman Moses Freeman originally proposed the idea to the City Council in September 2015, but the impediment was then – and is now – a 2013 state law that prohibits cities from setting a separate minimum wage.
In a meeting with the editorial board of the Times Free Press ahead of the March municipal election, the current council chairman said he’s still behind it and would be glad to “enter into a discourse as to why and why not.”
“I believe our City Council would have passed it if given the authority,” Freeman said. “I’ve been assertive and aggressive about it.”
His proposal received support in 2015 from Councilmen Jerry Mitchell and Chris Anderson.
Mitchell says if he’s re-elected he’d “take a look at leading” a push for full-time city employees, who already make well above the national minimum at $11.68 per hour, to earn $15 an hour.
“You can’t [have] a living wage for less than $15 an hour,” he told Times Free Press editorial board members.
Anderson says he “absolutely” believes Chattanooga should have a minimum wage increase, that the city “could be a leader on it” and could figure out “how to do it smart.” Yet, he also says he is both cognizant of the state law and sympathetic to the effect a sudden rise could have on businesses.
Like Mitchell, he said he is working on getting city of Chattanooga workers a $15 minimum wage.
But state Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Hixson, said allowing cities to craft such wage laws for all employers is antithetical.
“States created the cities,” he said. “I’m opposed to that.”
“I would be as well,” said state Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain. “It’s a recipe for chaos.”
State Rep. JoAnne Favors said “nobody’s talked to me” about the possibility of changing the state law this year.
The national minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Several large cities already have set $15 minimum wage goals to meet – San Francisco by 2018 and Los Angeles and Seattle by 2020. Nineteen states raised their minimum wage on Jan. 1, and three more are to raise it at mid-year.
In February 2016, Birmingham, Ala., passed a measure to hike its minimum wage to $10.10. Just days later, the Alabama state legislature passed a law outlawing cities from doing so, effectively rescinding the hike.
Memphis had proposed a higher city minimum wage in 2014 but, like Chattanooga, was thwarted by the 2013 law.
President Donald Trump has been anywhere from a “no” on the national issue to a “maybe a little bit” stance. His labor secretary nominee, Andrew Puzder, has suggested the issue be left to the states.
We’re with the legislature, though. We don’t believe individual cities should be in the business of setting rates for all employers. After all, if state law were to be overturned, Hamilton County conceivably could have 10 different minimum wage amounts in each of its 10 municipalities.
Generally, we believe the market should determine wages. And it has done so with many companies over the last several years. To remain competitive and attract the best workers, businesses such as Walmart and McDonald’s (in its corporate restaurants) have raised the minimum wages they pay employees. Similarly, cities that want to attract the best and brightest and can afford it, will do the same for their employees.
But a forced minimum-wage hike, especially a substantial one, is a recipe for job losses. Small businesses desperately trying to hang on would be forced to lay off employees. Other businesses would have to put off or halt plans for growth altogether, which is not exactly an economic stimulator. Even the Congressional Budget Office under former President Barack Obama, who preferred a much higher minimum wage, admitted a raise in the national minimum wage would cause a loss of jobs.
The national minimum wage was last raised in 2009. We wouldn’t be surprised – and wouldn’t mind – if Trump looked to raising it a little, if budget analysts say doing so would not be an overall detriment to the economy. But we’re satisfied the Tennessee law – Tennessee Code Annotated 50-2-112 – that prohibits cities from setting their own minimums is not about to be changed this year. And we believe that’s as it should be.