$15 minimum wage is a no-brainer

Tucson voters headed to the polls today shouldn’t think twice about increasing the city’s hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

It’s a no-brainer.

Even its perennial critics are running out of arguments against increasing the hourly wage for the lowest paid workers.

Business folks can no longer scare voters with the notion that paying workers a bit more means business shutdowns. That’s simply not true. Flagstaff ’s voter-approved gradual increase to $15 proves it. Only three businesses closed pre-pandemic, and while some businesses struggled, it was hard to prove it was because of a higher minimum wage.

The worker shortage stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic also shows that business owners are willing and capable of paying a lot more to recruit labor across sectors.

So, what’s the argument against it now?

It is “unnecessary, it’s divisive and it will create a bureaucratic nightmare for our small businesses,” Michael Guymon, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce interim president and CEO, told The Associated Press about Tucson’s Proposition 206.

They can no longer argue a financial burden, so now they’re pivoting to a “bureaucratic nightmare.” Those chamber-of-commerce types will always oppose paying workers more, no matter what.

Tucson voters should be smart enough to disregard those debunked arguments and approve Proposition 206 on the ballot.

The measure would gradually increase the hourly minimum wage to: $13 on April 1, 2022

$13.50 on Jan. 1, 2023

14.25 in 2024

$15 on Jan. 1, 2025

Arizona’s hourly minimum wage is $12.15 this year, a rate required to be adjusted annually to inflation. Plus, anyone paying attention knows that many businesses – large and small – are desperately needing workers despite offering higher pay.

And no, the worker shortage isn’t because of, as some argue, the emergency unemployment and benefits offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. That financial incentive is gone but people are rethinking their life values, and personal and labor priorities.

That life-changing mentality is forcing America to readjust quickly by paying more, offering flexible work schedules and other benefits.

So, why do we need laws setting an hourly minimum wage at $15 then? Because economic and labor markets are fluid and can change on a whim.

Plus, the lowest paid workers are normally those who are required to be at employment sites during set hours. These workers are already struggling to make ends meet with no real alternatives.

It’s unclear now how many Americans – and how many people in Tucson – get paid less than $15 per hour. Fight for $15 backers say some 85,000 people in Tucson would get a raise under Proposition 206.

But we know that even then, too many can’t afford rent, much less a mortgage.

Some 12 million renters nationwide, including tens of thousands in Arizona, were behind on their rent this summer, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

How much does a person need to earn in Arizona to afford rent?

At least $16.29 an hour for a one-bedroom apartment, or $22.30 an hour for a two-bedroom apartment. In Tucson, a person needs to earn at least $12.17 an hour and $18.44 an hour for a one- or two-bedroom apartment respectively, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

In other words, $15 per hour is hardly a living wage.

There is no excuse. Tucson voters should pass Proposition 206.

Flagstaff already is leading the way. The city in 2016 approved its gradual hourly hike to $15 and waged a successful legal fight against the Republicanled state government that threatened to penalize cities for increasing their minimum wages.

The question isn’t whether Tucson should give Proposition 206 a thumbs up, but why more Arizona cities aren’t rushing to do the same.