Senators advance measure lowering minimum wage for young workers

Senators in the Nebraska Legislature voted 32-17 Tuesday to give first-round approval to a measure setting a lower minimum wage for young workers than the wage regulation approved by voters three years ago.

But one senator who helped get it to that first round vote said he still wants to see a change in the proposal.

Tuesday’s vote followed a wide-ranging debate on Sen. Jane Raybould’s bill, LB258. Instead of allowing the minimum wage to rise to $15 an hour next January, as approved by voters four years ago, it would allow paying 14 and 15 year olds $13.50 an hour. It would also raise the training wage for the first 90 days of employment for 16-19 year-olds to $13.50, instead of the current $5.44 an hour. And it would limit annual increases, currently pegged to the consumer price index, or cpi, to 1.5%.

Sen. John Cavanaugh objected to weakening that link to inflation.

“Pegging it to the CPI means that the purchasing price of the minimum wage will stay in parity with inflation," he said. "If you artificially decrease the increase, which is what Senator Raybould is doing here at 1.5%, then you are going to continually erode the parity or the value of the minimum wage."

Sen. Megan Hunt said a lower minimum wage for young workers is age discrimination.

“We can't make the assumption that an older worker is inherently more efficient, skilled or productive or even experienced than a younger one," she said. "That's not a safe or fair generalization. In fact, in many jobs, especially physical roles, like stocking shelves, running a register during long shifts, working in a kitchen, loading delivery trucks, younger workers might actually outperform their older counterparts in terms of speed, strength and stamina."

Sen. Kathleen Kauth argued there’s a reason some young workers should be paid less.

“The federal government says 14 and 15 year olds are not allowed to do every part of a job," she said. "I have three sons, two of them worked in a grocery store, and they are very big and strong, and they would not be allowed to climb up on a step ladder. They couldn't use a box cutter. They had to ask some of their fellow coworkers, some of whom were older women, to pick up boxes for them, because they were not allowed to do the full job."

Sen. Ben Hansen expanded on that argument.

“One of my favorite Nobel Prize winning economists who I've quoted many times here, Milton Friedman, called the minimum wage, ‘A law that makes it illegal for a person whose skills are not worth a certain amount to work’. In other words, if someone's labor is worth $8 an hour, but the minimum wage is $15, that person is priced out of the job,” he said.

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Sen. Bob Hallstrom said higher minimum wages reduce the number of jobs available. Hallstrom recalled a question that had been asked at a hearing on the issue.

“’Do you think teenagers would rather have a $10 an hour job or a $15 an hour job?’ The answer to that question is obvious, but it's the wrong question. The proper question is, ‘Would you rather have a $10 an hour job or no job at all?’ Therein lies the rub,” he said.

Sen. Dunixi Guereca argued that a lower minimum wage would hurt families that rely on young workers to help them meet expenses.

“Many times that additional wage coming in from the child determines whether or not the internet bill gets paid, whether or not they have a meal that next morning, whether or not they're able to afford a new winter coat,” he said.

Sen. Danielle Conrad said that, coupled with cutbacks in paid sick leave and restrictions on gig workers that the Legislature has advanced or approved, reducing the minimum wage fits a theme.

“When people ask me how this legislative session is going, it's really hard to describe exactly how this session is going and how it feels," she said. "The best sort of description I can share with them is that every day feels like a Dickens novel. Every day political and corporate elites come in to attack the working poor."

After eight hours of debate spread out over two days, senators voted 33-16 to cut off debate and vote on the bill itself. That was the minimum number needed for the so-called cloture motion.

But on the bill itself, Sen. Stan Clouse, who had voted for cloture, voted against advancement. Clouse said afterwards he wants an amendment to provide for a fixed percentage for annual increases in the minimum wage, and that fixed percentage should be higher than 1.5%.

In this case, one senator’s vote could matter, because not only does it take 33 votes to end a filibuster, but also to pass a bill that modifies a law that was adopted by popular initiative.