TESTIMONY BY
THE LATINO ACTION NETWORK
BEFORE THE NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLY LABOR COMMITTEE
JANUARY 24, 2019
DELIVERED BY:
Christian Estevez, President
Latino Action Network
2560 U.S. Highway 22, Suite 322
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
Phone: (973) 418-7012
esteveznj@gmail.com
Good
morning, my name is Christian Estevez and I am President of the Latino Action
Network. We are a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to mobilizing
New Jersey’s Latino community to seek greater social, economic and educational
justice. The Latino Action Network has been working with a broad coalition of
organizations that are committed to helping New Jersey’s working poor by
getting the minimum wage raised to $15 per hour.
I
thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of Assembly Bill A-15
which raises the minimum wage to $15 per hour within 5 years for most workers.
While
we believe that it would be more beneficial to raise the minimum wage to $15
per hour immediately, the pace set forth in this bill for the implementation of
the increase is a compromise that we feel we can live with. It is
imperative that we achieve a living wage posthaste.
We
also remain concerned about those that will be left behind by this bill,
especially farm workers and those that work for small businesses. The
bill collectors do not treat people differently based on where they work. A gallon of milk costs the same for the
person that works for the big corporation and the person that works for the
small business or on a farm. No discounts are given because you earn
less.
While
this bill is not perfect, we feel that we must support it because the status
quo cannot be allowed to continue.
It
is unacceptable that hard-working people, including a disproportionate number
of Latinos, continue to struggle to meet the most basic of needs. A
person earning the current minimum wage in New Jersey of $8.85 per hour would
barely earn $18,000 per year if they worked full-time. That is below the poverty line as set forth
by the federal government for a family of three. The reality is that the
average family in New Jersey has 2.7 children.
That means that in a family with 2 children, both parents would have to
work full-time jobs just to keep their heads barely
above
the poverty line if they were both earning the minimum wage. Given that New
Jersey is one of the most expensive states to live in, earning just above the
federal poverty line is just not enough. Unfortunately, this is a reality
for far too many New Jersians.
Latinos
are overrepresented amongst low wage earners:
Latinos
constitute 17 percent of New Jersey’s population, yet account for 29 percent of
low-wage earners that would benefit from a raise in the minimum wage according
to a report issued by New Jersey Policy Perspective, an independent nonpartisan
think tank that promotes shared prosperity and widespread economic opportunity
in the Garden State. According to the National Employment Law Project,
almost 60 percent of Latino workers make less than $15 per hour.
These
numbers speak to the scope of the problem that low wages pose to Latino working
families. While low wages negatively impact workers from all racial and
ethnic backgrounds, Latinos are the group that is most disproportionally
impacted by this problem.
The
scale of the impact that low wages have on the Latino community can be seen in
our schools where Latino parents have a difficult time participating in their
children’s education since many have to work two or three jobs just to keep
their families above water. As a result, many Latino students fall
further behind academically, making it harder for them to get into college so
that they can compete for the high-skilled, high-wage careers that are in
demand in New Jersey. Instead, far too many young Latino workers are relegated
to low-skilled, low-wage work just like their parents.
We
have an opportunity to break this cycle by passing common-sense legislation
that raises the minimum wage in New Jersey to $15 per hour within the next five
years. If we do not act now, we will relegate too many of our working
families to poverty and foreclose on the futures of more generations of the
children of the working poor.
Raising
the minimum wage will not only help Latino working families, but it will also
help Latino owned small businesses and local economies since it will put more
money in the pockets of consumers that will spend those dollars on their
families’ necessities. This additional economic activity will lead to job
growth and increased profits in communities that are still struggling to
recover from the recent economic crisis that was caused by wild speculation on
Wall Street. Raising the minimum wage to
$15 per hour will deliver economic stimulus to Main Street where it is needed
the most.
We
at the Latino Action Network urge you to vote Assembly Bill A-15 favorably out
of committee and we hope that your colleagues will support all of New Jersey’s
working families by voting in favor of this bill when it reaches the floor of
the Assembly.
Thank
you.
