Impact of Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave on NJ's Families

Steve Adubato and Analilia Mejia, Executive Director, New Jersey Working Families Alliance, examine the benefits of gradually increasing the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, and paid sick leave.

#206 3/24/18

Excerpt:

"Welcome to State of Affairs. I'm Steve Adubato. Coming to you from the Agnes Varis NJTV Studio in Brick City, in beautiful Newark, New Jersey. We're pleased to welcome Analilia Mejia, who is Executive Director, New Jersey Working Families Alliance. How you doing? I'm good. How are you? Great. 30 second description or less on your organization. A progressive political organization that pushes voters to vote their values. P.S. in the 2016 Presidential Campaign, your organization supported? Bernie. Bernie, although... He goes by one name, doesn't he? Yes pretty much everyone knows which... Not Hillary but Bernie? Yes Bernie. And definitely not Trump? Oh yes. Definitely not Trump. Because then? And why not now? I think that he was selling the US, you know, a terrible bag of goods, it was mostly... he was connecting with voters in terms of their angst and what issues... A lot of working-class voters too? People who you represent? Yeah definitely, he knew how to talk to Americans about the issues that were impacting their daily lives, but you know it was, what he was saying and what he's actually doing and his own personal history just... it didn't connect. Well let's talk about that because, yeah, there's a whole bunch of state issues, the $15 minimum wage you're involved in? Yes. Paid sick leave? Mm hmm. A whole range of issues. Equal pay for equal work in New Jersey, on the national level, as you do this program we always put what date it is, we're in the Spring of 2018. Yes. Assess the Trump presidency as it relates to the people you represent every day. Well when you look at what he's doing to the environment, when you look at what he's doing to workers on stealing tipped wages for example, or tips from tipped workers, when you look at... What do you mean by that? Stealing to...? So the administration has pushed, essentially, a bill that would allow employers to take tips away from tipped employees. And so, as we know, that's the way that most waitresses and a whole host of other industries make, essentially, get to a minimum wage, tipped workers make about two dollars and some change and they have to make up the difference. Per hour? Per hour. They have to make up the difference by the tips. Well, if an employer is dipping into that pool, then employees are taking home less money. And so, I mean in so many issues, when it comes to worker protections, the environment, healthcare, even, you know, this budget deal, yes, in the front end, it's giving some tax rates... You're talking about the tax deal? Yes, yes. Well doesn't that help middle-income people in terms of reducing their tax..."