Proponents, foes square off over minimum wage

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Proponents of raising the minimum wage urged a Senate committee Tuesday to hurry up and pass the bill that would boost minimum wage by a dollar to $6.15 an hour.

Danny Thompson, executive director of the Nevada AFL-CIO, told the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee that 51,000 Nevadans are paid the minimum wage, which gives them an income that is below the poverty level.

Kendall Earl, a mother of four, testified she had a tough time paying bills on her salary in the food and beverage industry. Her family is on the state's Medicaid program that supplies health care to the needy.

She told the committee that she can't rely on tips. When the roads are closed into Reno, there are no customers, she testified.

But restaurant owners from Las Vegas testified against the bill.

David Alenik, Paymon Raouf and Bob Ansara said their profits are low. They are concerned about a section in the bill that calls for an annual increase of up to 3 percent in the minimum wage, depending on the consumer price index.

"The big concern is the indexing in the bill," Ansara said.

In the November election, 68 percent of the voters approved an initiative petition to boost the minimum wage by $1 an hour and put it on a cost of living escalation. Those businesses that provide health insurance would be exempt.

The initiative petition must be approved again at the 2006 election before it would go into effect.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, the main sponsor of Assembly Bill 87, testified that the minimum wage had not been raised since 1997. This is an opportunity, she said, for the hike in the wage to go in a year earlier than if it was approved by the voters again.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said 60 percent of all minimum wage workers are women and 25 percent are single mothers.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said those being paid the minimum wage are "slipping further behind" because of the rising costs of housing, medical care and other things.

There are 13 states that have boosted the minimum wage beyond the federal wage of $5.15 an hour, including the Western states of California ($6.75), Oregon ($7.25) and Washington ($7.35) .

Giunchigliani said the other states did not take into account whether businesses supplied health insurance. "We could be a trendsetter," she said.

Alenik, who has operated an independent restaurant in Las Vegas for 16 years, told the committee he pays his dishwashers $8 an hour. But he pays his waiter and waitresses $5.15 an hour because, he said, they average $20 to $25 an hour in tips.

The bill and the initiative petition would require an increase in the minimum wage of those who earn tips.

"My profit margin is low," Alenik said. "It would be very difficult to see a profit."

He said he would not be able to give pay raises or bonuses if the minimum wage was increased. He does not provide health care because, he said, it is cost-prohibitive.

The committee did not take action on the bill.