Racism keeping minimum wages down? Alabama ruling could help poor Texans. [Editorial]

[Sherman A1]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Racism-keeping-minimum-wages-down-Alabama-ruling-13172747.php

Raising the minimum wage is typically a nonstarter in the Texas Legislature. Democrats keep introducing bills to push the state’s minimum wage above the federal level set nearly a decade ago at $7.25 an hour, and Republicans keep rejecting their efforts.

But a recent federal court ruling tying minimum wages to racial discrimination might be the key to higher incomes for lowly paid American workers everywhere.

Several cities have attempted to bypass similarly recalcitrant legislatures, including Birmingham, Ala., whose City Council two years ago passed a bill raising its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. The Alabama Legislature responded by imposing a uniform statewide minimum wage that effectively voided Birmingham’s law. The city subsequently filed a federal lawsuit whose ripples could touch other states.

Twenty-five mostly Southern and border states, including Texas, have similar laws that prevent local governments from setting their own minimum wages. Many, like Alabama and Texas, have histories of racial discrimination. The Birmingham lawsuit recounts the racist past of that predominately black city and ties it to the decision of Alabama’s majority-white legislature to override its minimum wage increase.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Somber article, thanks for posting! nt

[BlueWI]

2. Ditto. Thanks for the article.

Food for thought as we keep working for racial equity in wages. A long struggle.