The minimum wage issue

Within every political party there are factions that range from ultra conservative on the far right, moderate toward the center, and ultra liberal toward the left. The mix of these factions has always impacted the direction of any significant policy of government. For example, when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed nearly seven decades ago in 1938, the minimum wage policy has since been a controversial political topic amongst the major parties in the United States. As with other major issues in government, the minimum wage issue has for a very long time been “a political football” with politicians seeking public office.

In an essay on the minimum wage policy of the Republican Party, Steve Hoenisch mentioned that historically the conservatives within the Republican Party have always espoused a policy of letting the free market establish wages, and some maintain there should be no minimum wage at all.

Conservative Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Steve Barlett (R-Texas) fought against raising the minimum wage arguing that, “a higher wage will increase unemployment and inflate prices, actually hurting the people that proponents say would be helped.” Moderate Republicans, on the other hand, have tended to argue that workers in entry-level positions deserve pay adequate enough to live on and raising the minimum wage does not necessarily increase unemployment or inflation.

Ronald Reagan was a conservative Republican president who was adamant about keeping the minimum wage the same. When Reagan’s vice president, George H.W. Bush, won the presidency subsequent to Reagan’s two terms in office, he took a different stance on the minimum wage and pledged to raise the wage during his 1988 campaign for president.

The Democratic Party has always taken a stance on the minimum wage issue that was the converse of the Republican Party. When Bill Clinton was president for two terms, he supported and proposed an increase in the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour. This increase was passed by Congress during Clinton’s second term as president.

When Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) submitted a bill to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa), a conservative Republican, countered Kennedy’s proposal with a $6.25 an hour increase. Both proposals were voted down by the U.S. Senate.

In a Seattle Post story involving minimum wage during an election year, the Republican Party’s argument against the minimum wage was that wages should be determined by market forces, not government mandate. Mandating a higher minimum wage only reduces employment of the nation’s least-skilled workers, e.g., workers at a fast food restaurant are not worth more than $5.15 an hour, in this view, and the proprietors of fast food restaurants will shrink their work forces. Studies have shown the contrary, i.e., employers do not shed workers when the minimum wage rises.

The Pew Research Center found that 94 percent of about 1,500 people polled were in favor of increasing the minimum wage, with 77 percent calling action by Congress either a priority or important. Polls like this have influenced the Republican Party candidates during election years. Because the majority of people are for and not against raising the minimum wage, the Republican Party candidates have historically eschewed any display of opposition to a higher minimum wage.

When Republican Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio was in his third term for the CNMI in 2000, he was not in favor of applying the federal minimum wage increase. Democratic governor of Hawaii Ben Cayetano, on the other hand, wanted to raise the minimum wage to coincide with Bill Clinton’s national wage hike.

If we rewind to the early 1990s, we will see that then Republican Washington Rep. Juan Nekai Babauta openly supported a higher minimum wage. When he campaigned for the gubernatorial seat in the CNMI in 2000, he made apparent his opposition against any proposed CNMI minimum wage hike. One year after he became governor, he submitted a proposal to increase the minimum wage from $3.05 an hour to $4 an hour over a three-year period. Babauta’s proposal mimicked what the Republicans in the U.S. Congress proposed—a gradual increase of the minimum wage over two years.

During his 15 years in public office, Babauta has changed his position on the minimum wage a total of three times. It appears that the shifts in the position Babauta took regarding the minimum wage were contingent on “the political tide” at that time.

Babauta publicly criticized Rep. Heinz Hofschneider for voting to stop raising the minimum wage in 1994 and then submitting a bill to raise it to $5 an hour in July 2005, an election year. Interestingly, Babauta has shifted positions regarding the minimum wage since he was the CNMI Washington representative during the early 1990s and his accusation toward Hofschneider is clearly hypocritical.

The Tribune ran a story in June 2005 discussing the passage of a bill, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2005, introduced by Rep. George Miller (D) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass) to seek to raise the minimum federal wage to $5.85 an hour and reach a level of $7.25 after two years. The federal bill would increase the minimum wage in the CNMI to $3.55 an hour and increase by fifty cents every six months thereafter until the minimum wage in the Commonwealth equaled that of the U.S.

Subsequent to the submission of House Bill 14-30 by Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider to increase the minimum wage in the CNMI to $5 an hour, he told the media: “Don’t make minimum wage a campaign material.” Wouldn’t submitting a bill regarding an increase in the minimum wage during an election year make it fall under the umbrella of campaign material?

The electorate of the CNMI has a right to know about the major issues impacting them and the fluctuating positions by the politicians who wish to represent them in public office. Voting for “opportunistic politicians” may prove not to be beneficial down the line if they make a decision that will be contrary to the best interests of all the residents and the entire island community.

Dr. Jesus D. Camacho
Delano, California