Editorial
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 3, 1997

Vote

The simplest solution to a problem isn't always the best one.

That's certainly the case with Proposition 202 - a seemingly simple solution deal with the problem of insufficient wages for unskilled laborers.

Proposition 202, which would raise Tucson's minimum wage to $7 an hour, is a foolhardy attempt to deal with the city's lagging pay scales.

University of Arizona students are one of the groups that stand to lose the most if voters approve Proposition 202 in tomorrow's citywide elections.

About 29 percent of Tucson's workers earn less than $7 an hour. Undeniably, a good portion of those workers are UA students working in service-oriented jobs.

Most college students would love to make $7 an hour for that part-time job flipping burgers, serving coffee or cleaning tables. But raising the minimum wage by $1.85 will actually mean less of those jobs available to students.

Small business owners in the university area will have to raise prices and eliminate jobs to make up the cost.

Undeniably, the national minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is not a livable wage in most parts of the country. But real change can only come if the national scale is raised to meet the needs of the minimum wage work force. Site-specific increases, like the Tucson's livable wage initiative, are counterproductive because they don't affect all the unskilled laborers living in the general area, but outside the city limits.

Indeed, one of Proposition 202's major shortcomings is that it is too regionally specific. A wage increase that only affects the city of Tucson will fail to benefit the portion of the work force that lives in the city and works in areas like the Catalina Foothills.

Also, if a $7 minimum wage was enacted in Tucson, some business owners would look to relocate outside the city limits as a way of escaping the increase. Obviously, passage of Proposition 202 won't cause a mass-migration of businesses to Pima County, but as the Tucson area continues to stretch into suburbia, some business owners will make that move.

Another drawback is that the initiative appears to violate a state law, barring cities from imposing their own minimum wages. If passed, Proposition 202 could meet the fate of last year's medicinal marijuana initiative - which voters passed but state lawmakers refused to implement.

Although it seems like a noble attempt to help workers struggling to make ends meet, Tucson's livable wage initiative is not the answer.

All in all, a $7 minimum wage will mean less jobs and higher prices for students. So get out and vote tomorrow. Vote "no" on Proposition 202.