Delegates support minimum wage increase
By George P. Hassett

Somerville’s five state delegates unanimously supported a measure passed in the Senate Thursday that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour, the highest in the country, and guarantee future increases tied to hikes in the cost of living.
   The minimum wage is currently $6.75 an hour in Massachusetts. The Legislature last approved an increase in the cost of living in 1999, voting to raise the hourly minimum wage from $5.25 to $6.00 starting in 2000, and from $6.00 to $6.75 in 2001.

   Under the Senate bill, the minimum wage would jump to $7.50 on Sept. 1 and to $8.25 on September 1, 2007. After that, the minimum wage would increase automatically every Sept. 1 to match inflation and reflect any rise in the urban consumer price index, a measure of inflation in cities across the United States.
   ‚ÄúInflation eats away at people‚Äôs salaries,‚Äù said Sen. Patricia D. Jehlen. ‚ÄúIncreases should be automatic not political.‚Äù
   Only four states ‚Äì Washington, Oregon, Florida and Vermont ‚Äì have ‚Äúindexed‚Äù their minimum wage to the cost of living.
   Carl M. Sciortino, D-Somerville, has co-sponsored a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $7.75 over two years. Legislators in the House Ways and Means Committee removed any ties to future increases in the cost of living from the bill, but Sciortino said he is confident the bill can be amended to include considerations for inflation.
   Including indexed increases in the Senate bill was crucial to Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios. A year‚Äôs worth of full-time work at the minimum wage earned $14,040 in 2001 and earns $14,040 today, he said. 
  Raising the Massachusetts minimum wage to $8.25 per hour would mean a raise of $3,000 per year for workers such as child care providers, health care aides, security guards and janitors.
  The Senate passed the measure unanimously, but opposition to the bill came mainly from the business community, who may actually end up benefiting, said Sciortino.
  ‚ÄúAn increase in minimum wage puts more money into real people‚Äôs pockets,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúThey are going to spend that money and support the business community.‚Äù
Jehlen said an increase in the minimum wage would help all families not just those working minimum wage jobs.
   ‚ÄúPeople living poorly affect their neighbors,‚Äù she said. ‚ÄúChildren of low-income parents are more likely to struggle in school and more subsidized assistance is needed. There is a ripple effect from the bottom up when you increase the minimum wage. People who earn slightly above the minimum wage usually see a bump in their wages too.‚Äù