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Minimum-wage bill threatens workers' tips, opponents say
Labor Department says tips would be protected
Thursday, August 3, 2006; Posted: 10:54 a.m. EDT (14:54 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tip money earned by waitresses in Las Vegas, manicurists in Hollywood and bartenders in Seattle is on the table in the nation's capital as lawmakers scrap over an election-year minimum wage bill.
Nevada, California and Washington are among seven states where workers get to keep their tips on top of getting paid their state's full minimum wage. In other states, tip-earning workers get paid less and make up the difference with tips.
A provision in GOP-written minimum wage legislation passed by the House and under consideration this week by the Senate could change the law in those seven states -- the others are Montana, Alaska, Minnesota and Oregon. It would deal a pay cut of $3 or more an hour to thousands of waiters, bellhops and hairdressers in those states, according to Democrats and labor groups.
rest of story here
Minimum wage bill stalls in Senate
Republican bill, denounced as 'ploy' by Democrats, would also cut estate taxes.
August 4 2006: 6:27 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Republicans Thursday night failed to advance a bill coupling a 40-percent increase in the minimum wage with a cut in estate taxes, which Democratic leaders had denounced as an election-year ploy.
A move by GOP leaders to cut off debate and move to a final vote on the bill failed to get the 60 votes it needed under Senate rules. The vote, which fell mostly along party lines, was 56 to 42.
After the vote, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist pulled the measure from the Senate floor. However, he switched his vote on the motion to cut off debate from "yes" to "no," a procedural maneuver which allows him to try to advance the bill again when lawmakers return from their August recess.
rest of the story here
Originally posted by RRconservative
I can't believe the Democrats killed the minimum wage increase.
I bet there are alot of 16-20 year olds that are t'd off about this.
Not only did they lose out on a pay raise, but they are still in jeopardy of having their estate taxed again at death.
The Republicans bill was a win-win situation for the 16-20 year olds, and the Democrats blew it for them.
Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2005
According to Current Population Survey estimates for 2005, 75.6 million American workers were paid at hourly rates, representing 60.1 percent of all wage and salary workers.1 Of those paid by the hour, 479,000 were reported as earning exactly $5.15, the prevailing Federal minimum wage. Another 1.4 million were reported as earning wages below the minimum.2 Together, these 1.9 million workers with wages at or below the minimum made up 2.5 percent of all hourly-paid workers. Tables 1 - 10 present data on a wide array of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for hourly-paid workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage. The following are some highlights from the 2005 data.
Minimum wage workers tend to be young. About half of workers earning $5.15 or less were under age 25, and about one-fourth of workers earning at or below the minimum wage were age 16-19. Among employed teenagers, about 9 percent earned $5.15 or less. About 2 percent of workers age 25 and over earned the minimum wage or less. Among those age 65 and over, the proportion was about 3 percent. (See table 1 and table 7.)
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