Advocates: New Hampshire Needs A $12 An Hour Minimum Wage

CONCORD, NH — Advocates supporting a higher minimum wage are hoping recent polling data will convince New Hampshire's governor to sign a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $12 by 2020. Raise Up New Hampshire, a coalition working to improve economic conditions for families in the state, held a press conference on Wednesday to unveil data from a new poll showing strong support for a higher minimum wage and called on Gov. Chris Sununu, R-NH, to sign SB 10. Currently, the state of New Hampshire doesn’t have its own minimum wage; it was abolished in 2011. The current minimum wage is set by the federal government at $7.25 an hour.

Activists estimate about 12,000 people in the Granite State currently earn the minimum wage.

Advocates Speak

The Rev. John Gregory Davis, co-pastor of Meriden Congregational Church, called on the governor to sign the bill. It would show, he said, that Sununu cared about citizens who were working for poverty wages.

"We know that we can do better," he said, "we call upon you to lead us in that way or to follow the lead of the people … or get out of the way. Because we are moving toward a state that will honor and pay all of its workers honorably."

Viola Katusiime of the Granite State Organizing Project spoke about the Raise Up New Hampshire coalition describing them to be a number of organizations including workers and businesses focused on rights and higher ways. The coalition collected more than 1,200 signatures and deliver them to officials.

"We are here, again, to emphasize, why New Hampshire shouldn't be the only state that's lagging behind New England in raising the minimum wage," she said. "Our workers need a higher wage now; they can't wait any longer."

John Hattan, from SEA 1984/SEIU, said that all residents of the state needed to work together for those in need and raising the minimum wage to $12.

Alissandra Murray, a young worker from Manchester, spoke about the difficulty she was having balancing two jobs at low wages while trying to better her life. She wondered how one of the richest and greatest nations in the world could find it acceptable for people to be living in poverty.

"If Sununu vetoes the minimum wage bill, he will be ignoring the will and needs of New Hampshire citizens," Murray said. "Anyone working full-time should be able to afford a decent life. Period."

Emmett Solidal, the owner of Teatotaller, a coffee shop in Somersworth, said raising the minimum wage would help employers understand that "skills" are not about high or low but about what they do for people to help them succeed. Market forces were already determining that raises should rise and having mandatory increases by the state was not such a radical idea.

"A $12 minimum wage is reasonable and necessary," he added.

Poll Results

Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,148 voters in early May and asked them if they supported raising the minimum wage during the next three years to $12 by 2022 and 59 percent said they strongly supported the increase. Only 20 percent answered somewhat or strongly opposed the increase. More than 90 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of Republicans, and 80 percent of independents both strongly and somewhat supported the proposal.

Another proposal that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024 showed slightly less support than the $12 wage: 44 percent strongly supporting while 35 percent combined somewhat or strongly opposed the increase.

Sixty percent support adjusting the minimum wage each year after reaching $12 or $15.

The poll also asked voters if they would be more likely or less likely to support Gov. Chris Sununu's re-election bid in 2020 if he vetoed a $12 minimum wage proposal. Twenty-four percent of all voters said it wouldn't make a difference while 43 percent of indies and 15 percent of Republicans said they would be less likely to vote for him. Twenty-five percent of Indies and 61 percent of Republicans said they would be more likely to support him.

When asked which candidate they voted for in 2016, 45 percent said Donald Trump and 45 percent said Hillary Clinton. The other 10 percent voted for someone else or didn't vote.