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Election '06: Work-study in jeopardy if no funding is found
Amendment 42 would raise minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85
By Lou Christopher and David Pollan
achris25@mscd.edu • dpollan@mscd.edu

Colorado’s constitutional Amendment 42, a proposal to raise minimum wage rates for hourly workers, could affect college work-study programs statewide.

Rich Jones, director of policy and research for Bell Policy Center, said that if passed, the amendment could cost the state an extra $2.8 million annually to fund work-study programs.

The cost to the state would vary depending on how the legislature or schools pay for the higher wages, according to the Colorado Analysis of the 2006 Ballot Proposals. Schools could get the money from the state, increase fees and tuition or reduce the number of work-study hours available to students.

“None of our positions here will be affected by this amendment,” said Tamy Calahan, director of human resources for Metro. The lowest a Metro work-study employee makes is $7.00 per hour, she said.

The amendment would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $6.85 per hour, an increase of 33 percent. The hourly wage increase for tipped workers would be an 80 percent increase, raising the wages from $2.13 per hour to $3.83 per hour.

The rate will adjust annually in accordance with inflation, but the wage gap between tipped employees and not-tipped employees must stay below $3.02. For example, if inflation in 2008 is 3 percent, then in 2009 the minimum wage would increase to $7.06 for workers and $4.04 for workers who receive tips, according to the analysis.

According to 2005 wage data, Amendment 42 would affect 106,000, or just under 5 percent, of Colorado workers. About 25,000 workers were paid less than $5.15 per hour, 9,000 made $5.15 per hour, and 72,000 earned between $5.15 per hour and $6.85 per hour.

“Lower-income people spend 100 percent of their income anyways, so it will benefit the economy,” said Ken Anderson, a Metro student who said the proposed amendment is a good idea.

Jan Rigg, spokeswoman for Respect Colorado’s Constitution, disagreed.

“It hurts the very people they want to help,” Rigg said.

Raising the minimum wage doesn’t belong in the Colorado Constitution, she said. Inflation could cause a slippery slope of price increases on goods rising rapidly due to increased wages. This, in turn, will affect inflation, which will affect wages. Because amending the constitution requires voter approval, if this problem arose there would be no easy way to solve it.

It’s “an amendment for chaos,” Rigg said. “We understand that people might be sympathetic to raising the minimum wage, however, it does not have to be amended to the constitution.”

Small business would be hit hard, and to compensate for wage increases, businesses will cut benefits or not hire at all, she said.

This is not true, according to Bill Vandenberg, spokesman for the Colorado Progressive Coalition, an organization fighting for Amendment 42.

The District of Columbia and 23 states have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage. Of the 23 states, four are adjusted yearly with the rate of inflation. There hasn’t been an adverse effect on the economy in these states, Vandenberg said.

Vandenberg questioned why the standard cost of living items such as gas, food and utilities continue to increase, but the federal minimum wage hasn’t increased since 1997.

“A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it,” Vandenberg said.

The current yearly salary of a full-time worker making minimum wage is $10,700, before taxes. The annual income for someone considered at or below the poverty level is $9,800.

“Hard work deserves good pay,” Vandenberg said.

The federal government instituted the minimum wage in 1938. Since 1938, the minimum wage has increased 19 times. It started at $0.25 per hour and has increased to its current level of $5.15 per hour.