Move For $15/hr Minimum Wage In NJ Pushes On
by KYW's David Madden
TRENTON, NJ (CBS) -- Democratic party leaders in New Jersey insist their fight to establish a livable minimum wage is far from over, despite Governor Chris Christie's veto of a bill last week that would have set the base wage in the state at $15 an hour.
Christie's action was no surprise to State Senate President Steve Sweeney.
"He was very predictable. Did exactly what we expected," Sweeney told KYW Newsradio, "and now has left us to move to ask the voters, as we did in 2013, to raise the minimum wage over a period of time to $15."
Look for legislative action before the end of the year, and again next year to put the question on the November 2017 ballot.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, that would be paired with a Gubernatorial election, one in which Sweeney could well be the Democratic candidate. He and at least four others are pondering a run. Only one has made his campaign official.
As for the ballot question, Sweeney suggests it will pass for one reason.
"When you give people who are on the lower end of the scale an opportunity to get a little more money, they take it, they spend it, it gets back into the economy and it buys goods and services and you employ people for that," he said.
Besides, he says predictions of major job cuts after the 2013 vote failed to come to pass. In fact, thousands more are on the payroll.
