minimum wage tanks

14 May 2006

So, things were looking good for some semblance of progressive legislation on the minimum wage in TN, but, well, so much for that idea.

The provisions that call for, you know, actually enforcing the minimum wage have been cut from the bill at the last minute:

As the bill is written, workers would have to sue to force their employers to pay up.

“You might as well not have a law if you’re not going to enforce it,” Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council President Jerry Lee said.

The changes were needed to get the measure out of committee for a vote by the full House and Senate, said state Rep. Mike Turner, D-Nashville, one of the bill’s sponsors.

…

Opponents and supporters agree the bill is pretty useless without state enforcement.

“Why go to the trouble of doing it if you’re not going to enforce it?” Lee said. “At this point, it seems like a bill to get emotions up for the election coming up.”

Indeed. The cliche of “do-nothing congressmen” exists for a reason. This is all show and no substance.