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Bernie Sanders wants a $17 national minimum wage. He says $15 in Ohio would be a good start [1]

['Andrew', 'Tobias', 'Atobias Cleveland.Com', 'Andrew J. Tobias']

Date: 2024-06-20 15:44:56.340000+00:00

COLUMBUS, Ohio — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to raise the national minimum wage to $17 an hour.

But, he said a proposed Ohio ballot measure that would raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026 for nontipped workers, and for all workers by 2029, is a step in the right direction.

“Right now, working-class people are struggling to pay rent, pay for food, send their kids to college, deal with retirement issues, deal with healthcare issues, while the very richest people in this country are becoming much richer,” Sanders, a Vermont independent who ran for president as a Democrat in 2016 and 2020, said in an interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer ahead of a planned appearance Thursday night at a rally promoting the measure. “And one way to improve life for working people is to move the minimum wage to a living wage.”

The rally, planned for 7 p.m. at the UAW hall in Parma, comes at a pivotal time for the issue campaign, which is trying to qualify for the November ballot. Amendment backers, which include organized labor groups, have until July 3 to submit roughly 413,000 valid signatures from Ohio voters, including a minimum number from at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties. The campaign is shooting for 700,000 signatures, to account for those that inevitably are rejected, and surpassed 500,000 last week, according to a campaign spokesperson.

An organized, statewide campaign opposing the measure is expected to emerge if it qualifies for the ballot, according to Gene Pierce, a Republican operative who’s working with the yet-to-be-formed campaign. The opposition includes restaurant owners and small businesses, who have argued the measure will result in a loss of service jobs.

Here are the questions and Sanders’ answers. Both have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Why are you coming to Cleveland?

As chairman of the Health, Education and Labor Committee, I consider income and wealth inequality to be one of the major crises facing our country. The reality is the people in the top 1% are doing phenomenally well. At the same time, we’ve got 60% of our people living paycheck to paycheck, and we’ve got 600,000 people living in the streets.

So in my mind, one of the goals that we have got to fight for is to make sure that every worker in America earns at least a living wage.

What effect would it have if Ohio passes this?

Research suggests that nearly 1 million people in Ohio, or 19% of the workforce, would receive a raise by 2026 if the ballot measure passes. That’s not insignificant.

Do you think someone can get by on $15 an hour?

No, I don’t. We are fighting at least for a $17 federal wage. But $15 will help many, many hundreds of thousands of people. My understanding is the average [affected] worker in Ohio would receive an average raise of $2,100 per year if this ballot item were to go through. So you’ve got a lot of hard-working, low-wage workers who would benefit from this.

A common opposing argument is that raising the minimum wage will force employers to either cut workers or raise prices. How do you think voters will receive those arguments during a period of higher than average inflation?

If you really want to understand why we have inflation right now, take a look at the interest rates being charged by Wall Street credit cards. Take a look at the prices being charged by the food companies, and understand that these guys are making, in many cases, record-breaking profits. The idea that we’re going to blame inflation on somebody who’s making nine to ten bucks an hour is pathetic. The same companies have CEOs that make millions of dollars a year.

Do you think voters will see it that way?

I do. I just did some preliminary research on this and my understanding is that every state that has had a ballot item like Ohio calling for a minimum wage increase has passed it. And we’re talking about many states that have passed it. I don’t know of any that have failed. And these include some very conservative states.

(Writer’s note: All twenty-four minimum wage measures that have appeared on the ballot since 1998 have passed, according to Ballotpedia, an open-source elections website. But these include only two $15 measures - one that passed in Nebraska in 2022 and one that passed in Florida in 2020.)

Another argument from the restaurant industry, which opposes this, is that tipped workers don’t want a minimum wage increase because it may hurt their tips. Do you think this would hurt tips?

I’m not sure who these restaurant people are talking to other than themselves. I think if you go out and ask restaurant workers whether they would like to make a minimum wage of [$15 an hour] or $5.25 an hour [the current minimum wage for tipped Ohio workers], I think they’d take $15 an hour.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is running for reelection this year. How do you think he’ll do?

I think Sherrod stands a very good chance of winning. He and I came in at the same time. He is one of the strongest voices in the Senate for working people. And I certainly hope that he’ll be reelected.

Our other senator, Republican Sen. JD Vance, has been the subject of widespread speculation that Ex-President Donald Trump will choose him as his running mate this year. What do you think about that speculation, and what do you think about Vance?

I don’t know him very well, to be honest with you. And I will do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump. Donald Trump, when he was president, turned his back on the working class of this country, appointed some of the most reactionary anti-labor officials with the Secretary of Labor, etc. The contrast in terms of the needs of working people between Trump and Biden is profound.

Vance recently told the New York Times that when it comes to the left, the people whose politics he’s “open to” are the “Bernie Bros.” What do you make of that?

There are some Republicans out there who understand that at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, you’ve got to pay attention to the needs of the working class. But that is not Donald Trump. That is for sure.

What else do you want people to know ahead of this rally?

I would hope that all of us, no matter what our political views may be, come together to demand an economy that works for all of us, and not just the people on top. Right now, working-class people are struggling to pay rent, pay for food, send their kids to college, deal with retirement issues, deal with healthcare issues, while the very richest people in this country are becoming much richer. And one way to improve life for working people is to move the minimum wage to a living wage.

We are trying to do that here in Washington. But right now the states are taking the lead. A number of states have gone for it and raised the minimum wage, and I hope Ohio follows suit.

Andrew Tobias covers state politics and government for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer

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[1] Url: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/06/bernie-sanders-wants-a-17-national-minimum-wage-he-says-15-in-ohio-would-be-a-good-start.html

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