Minimum Wage Bill Aims To Help Workers In Alabama
Low wages are the root cause for so many ills in Alabama, but some state legislators are hoping to provide some financial help. Senate Bill 171 would set a state-mandated minimum wage of $10 per hour. It would not, however, apply to small businesses with 50 or fewer employees, which would be exempted.
Low wages have been blamed for two negative economic factors in the state; reducing work force participation rates to one of the lowest in the nation and forcing many Alabamians to work multiple jobs.
Currently Alabama is one of five southern states that has no required minimum wage, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee are the other four states that apply the Federal Minimum Wage Rate of $7.25. That has been the standard in the Yellowhammer State since 2009.
Currently, 30 states and Washington, D.C. have their own minimum wage laws, most above the federal minimum level. For instance, D.C. has the highest at $17,95 an hour.
The bill is co-sponsored by Greensboro State Senator and Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-24) and seven other upper chamber Democrat lawmakers, including Sens. Robert Stewart, Kirk Hatcher, Rodger Smitherman, Vivian Davis Figures, Merika Coleman, Linda Coleman-Madison, and Billy Beasley.
Sen. Stewart (D-23) says Alabama's low wages subsidize the profits of massive billion-dollar companies. He says that is not right. “This bill, it does not create a livable wage, but it does eliminate starvation wages,” Stewart told media after the bill's introduction.
Based on past history, the odds of seeing the measure pass are remote, even in an election year. In February 2016, the city of Birmingham passed legislation to raise the city’s minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour. Immediately following that, the Republican controlled state legislature passed a law barring municipalities from setting their own minimum wage. Then Gov. Robert Bentley (R-Tuscaloosa) signed the bill invalidating Birmingham's minimum wage ordinance, effectively ending any improvement in employee salaries.
The NAACP, a group of fast-food workers, and other labor groups then filed a lawsuit in federal district court, challenging the legislature's action. Initially, it was dismissed, but in July 2018, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Alabama’s “preemption law” (using state law to override a local ordinance) violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection rights. However, the full appellate court upheld the district court’s dismissal of the case, and the Alabama minimum wage remains the federal standard.
The legislation, if passed and signed into law by Gov. Ivey, would go into effect on October 1 this year, with the new standard wage becoming mandatory on New Year's Day 2027.
More From Tuscaloosa Thread
