SPLC Action Fund joins fight for $15 minimum wage
Nonprofit contributes $250,000, kicking off campaign for passage
Tallahassee, FL. - Florida For A Fair Wage announced today that the SPLC Action Fund is joining the campaign to raise Florida’s minimum wage. The non-profit has donated $250,000 to support the constitutional amendment and will work with Florida for a Fair Wage as it campaigns for voters to approve the ballot initiative.
“I’m proud to welcome SPLC Action Fund to this important fight,” said Florida for a Fair Wage Chairman John Morgan. “They have been on the right side when it comes to issues like legalizing medical marijuana and giving formerly incarcerated people the right to vote after they have served their sentences. Having them working with us shows that there is a strong and growing consensus that all Floridians deserve to earn a living wage.”
The current minimum wage is $8.46 an hour and the constitutional amendment would raise the minimum wage to $10 in September, 2021, with the minimum wage then increasing by a dollar every year until it reaches $15 in 2026. After that, future minimum wage increases would occur based on inflation, just like Florida’s constitution currently requires.
Voters will determine the fate of the constitutional amendment when they go to the polls on Nov. 3, 2020. A 60 percent super majority is required to pass a constitutional amendment in Florida.
Emily Early, staff attorney for the Economic Justice Project at the SPLC Action Fund said a minimum wage increase was necessary to address economic inequality and give people a chance to lift themselves out of poverty.
“There was a point where you could make a living on the minimum wage,” Early said. “Now, the $8.46 minimum wage in Florida will not pull an individual out of poverty even if they’re working 40 hours a week. And if you’re trying to support a family, it’s even more difficult.”
There are hundreds of thousands of hard working Floridians living in poverty, many of them low-income women from communities of color. A $15 minimum wage would give people a chance to break the cycle of poverty and lead a more economically stable life, Early said.
While some opponents have argued that a higher minimum wage will hurt workers, research has shown that isn’t the case, with the vast majority of workers benefiting from an increased minimum wage.
While opponents have argued that a higher minimum wage will hurt workers, research has shown that isn’t the case, with the vast majority of workers benefiting from an increased minimum wage.
A minimum wage increase enjoys public support. A June poll released by St. Pete Polls had 63 percent of Floridians supporting an increase in the minimum wage to $10 an hour with an increase of $1 per hour every year for five years after that.
