Commissioner Dan Saltzman—whose shoo-in bid for re-election next month has been slightly complicated by a challenger calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage—is planning a rally tomorrow where he’ll call on lawmakers to lift a state pre-emption on local minimum wage hikes and raise several other issues related to pay gaps endured by women and minorities.
Saltzman’s office confirmed the planned rally (set for 2 pm tomorrow outside city hall) and said a formal announcement would be due out this afternoon. It’s part of something called Equal Pay Day, a national effort meant to shine a lot on wage gaps and lay out plans to address them.
His office also stressed that the minimum wage issue would be just one of a handful Saltzman would highlight, alongside concerns over the high cost of day care and a push to expand Portland’s guarantee of paid sick time statewide.
Local and state elected officials are expected to attend, alongside advocates from groups including Family Forward Oregon, which lobbied hard for Portland’s sick time ordinance. Commissioner Amanda Fritz first proposed the sick time ordinance, with Saltzman coming on board to help her navigate around concerns from the state’s restaurant and grocery lobbies.
Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian also is expected to be among those gathering tomorrow. Avakian has suggested re-indexing the state’s minimum wage to the federal poverty line for a family.
Saltzman’s public embrace of the minimum wage followed lawyer and Concordia professor Nick Caleb’s decision to throw in against the four-term incumbent and make minimum wage one of his signature issues. Caleb has the backing of Socialist Alternative, the same group in Seattle that helped a socialist professor, Kshama Sawant, win a long-shot race against an entrenched city council incumbent.
Saltzman at first told the Mercury he’d support a minimum wage between $10 and $15 while lamenting the state’s 2001 pre-emption on local minimum wages—a bill muscled through a Republican-controlled legislature by the restaurant industry. Later, as Caleb’s call for $15 found purchase, Saltzman said he’d call for overturning the pre-emption.
Caleb has proposed, if and/or until the pre-emption is lifted, charging Portland employers a living wage tax and paying all city workers and contractors $15 an hour immediately.
Saltzman isn’t going to support anything close to a living wage. His PBA masters won’t let him.
Punt!
I’d like Saltzman to explain why employers are not slashing labor costs by hiring only women.
You’re obviously really well read on the dynamics of the wage gap, frankieb, because damn you just put in the checkmate. […]
I think that Nick Caleb does more than “slightly” complicate Saltzman’s re-election. He appears to have some support with the active transportation folks. Plus, he will get some “tired of incumbents” votes. He may not be a shoo-in, but he is far from being a fringe candidate.
http://qz.com/182977/there-is-no-gender-ga…
Caleb’s campaign for 15 Now is obviously having an impact and that is good. Saltzman does not mention a figure for the minimum wage. And Saltzman’s timing in making this call is interesting. The 2014 legislative session closed March 9, 2014 and does not reopen until 2015. What will he be saying about in December? Did he say anything about this when City Council was crafting their 2014 legislative agenda? Or their 2013 agenda? Did he say anything about this since 1998 when he was first elected? http://www.portlandoregon.gov/ogr/article/…
I’d still rather vote the Cornell educated Saltzman over a lawyer trying to become a politician by giving false hopes to the downtrodden of our city.
Politicians, yuppies, students, software engineers, lawyers, and the unemployable all agree – they know better how to manage the overhead and expenses of this city’s restaurant and retail businesses.
We don’t have to wait to on the state to raise the minimum wage. Here’s what council can do right now: http://www.blueoregon.com/2014/04/15-how/
Come on you wimps, ask for $25 an hour. We’ve been told time and time again here that they can afford it and it won’t impact prices.