One of the things I'm most proud to have been a part of was raising minimum wage in Johnson County and helping lead a statewide discussion on how a minimum wage of $7.25 is not sustainable for any worker to live on.
In 2015, I had been meeting with various people for over a year to discuss and research our County local control and the need to raise the minimum wage. Because of some meeting scheduling issues, the only time for a month that the Johnson County Board of Supervisors could discuss the issue was when I was on RAGBRAI. So that Wednesday morning, my spouse and I broke RAGBRAI camp early and peddled hard into the Aplington City Hall. I had asked to use their office to call into the Supervisors work session.
I will never forget that RAGBRAI day and the vote a few weeks later to raise the minimum wage in three jumps to $10.10 and then inflation index increases. While we were called courageous, heros and also some not so nice things, that was the easiest "controversial" vote I have ever taken and the one I knew we were changing lives of people struggling living in poverty.
Later in 2017, the Republicans in the Legislature decided to seize power and take away our local control to enforce the minimum wage ordinance. While they might have won for the moment to lower wages on thousands of hard working Iowans, I do not believe that is the end of the story.
Next Thursday, the Board of Supervisors will vote to raise minimum wage in Johnson County to $10.27 on July 1st. I'm confident that many Johnson County employers will honor this increase even if we can't make them do so at this point. I also think by raising wages at the rate of inflation, we can help those fighting to survive on minimum wage have a stronger voice. We must all challenge the Iowa Legislature and Governor to address poor wages in Iowa.
http://iowapublicradio.org/post/johnson-county-set-vote-symbolic-minimum-wage-hike#stream/0
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