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Let’s Not Take Leave of Our Senses
February 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Boston Herald
Flu season has activists from the Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition working overtime to ensure that they don’t miss a golden chance to argue for a statewide mandatory sick leave law. They’re supported by Reps. Kay Khan (D-Newton) and Jason Lewis (D-Winchester), who last month filed a bill that would grant this new benefit to most Massachusetts employees. Before rushing ahead with a new mandate, policy makers should… -
The $9 Minimum Wage That Already Exists
February 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Wall Street Journal
On Tuesday night, President Obama used his State of the Union address to call for a 24% increase in the federal minimum wage, to $9 an hour from its current $7.25. He left out an important detail: For many low-wage employees, single parents in particular, the minimum wage is already above $9 an hour. That is because of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which boosts wages for… -
Junk Research Distracts from a Serious Policy Discussion About Minimum Wage
January 2013 · Michael Saltsman · San Jose Mercury News
Assemblyman Luis Alejo is a man on a mission: Raise California’s minimum wage from $8 per hour to $9.25 per hour, and link it to rise with inflation in future years. In service of this goal, he recently penned an op-ed for the Santa Cruz Sentinel to make the “pro-business” case for an additional wage mandate. He was joined in the Sentinel by a separate op-ed from… -
Hiding Link Between Higher Minimum Wage, Job Loss
January 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Orange County Register
More than 800 new laws took effect in California at the start of 2013, but a mandated higher minimum wage wasn’t one of them. This year, however, Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, intends to introduce a bill to hike the state’s minimum wage to $9.25 over three years, and link it to rise with future inflation. Legislators concerned about foisting new costs on the state’s hard-hit employers have… -
Raising N.J. minimum wage would have unintended consequences
October 2012 · Michael Saltsman · Times of Trenton
New Jersey Senate President Steven Sweeney (D-West Deptford) recently proposed a measure that would ask New Jersey voters to raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.25 and then have it rise with inflation — a proposal he defended on these pages (op-ed, “A constitutional guarantee for workers’ minimum wage,” Oct. 3). Sweeney’s political logic is clear: Polls show broad support for a wage hike, so a wage-related… -
10 years of rancid restaurant-bashing
September 2012 · Michael Saltsman · The New York Post
Next week, one of New York’s most pernicious activist groups — the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, aka ROC — celebrates its 10th anniversary with a posh $400-a-plate dinner. Like most groups that reach the 10-year milestone, ROC has grown a lot. Once content to stage rag-tag protests outside the city’s finest restaurants, it now promotes its work with the help of a savvy media team…