PARMA, Ohio — There is a push to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to raise Ohio's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026.
The effort drew leading progressive U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who was the featured speaker at a rally Thursday evening at the UAW Local 1005 hall in Parma. Volunteers from Raise the Wage Ohio were also gathering signatures at the rally for the citizen-initiated constitutional amendment.
The proposed ballot measure would raise Ohio's minimum hourly wage to $12.75 from the current $10.45 beginning Jan. 1, 2025. It would then increase to $15 beginning Jan. 1, 2026, before rising with the rate of inflation every year thereafter.
It would also eliminate the state's minimum tipped wage, currently $5.25 per hour, in favor of a $15 hourly minimum for all workers.
Prior to the event, Sanders sat down for a one-on-one interview with 3News. When asked what he'd say to small business owners who have expressed concerns that a $15 minimum would put them out of business, Sanders replied, "Look, all I can tell you is that all over this country, there are millions and millions of workers who are having a hard time paying the rent and feeding their kids. And we are living in an economy where, by and large, people at the top have never had it so good."
But we circled back to the question: What would he say to small business owners and mom-and-pop shops?
"I would say raising the minimum wage would be of significant benefit to workers in Ohio and, among other things, they may have a few bucks more to spend in your store," Sanders answered.
The proposed amendment faces strong opposition from Ohio's restaurant and bar leaders. Former Ohio state Rep. Mike Dovilla, a Berea native who is currently the Republican nominee for the State House's 17th District seat, is also against it.
"This will only cause additional inflationary pressures in the economy," Dovilla claimed. "It has the potential to cause additional unemployment and really have a detrimental impact on the people this policy claims it will help."
Ohio is close to the median when it comes to minimum wages across the U.S. Washington, D.C., has the highest in the country at $17 per hour, and Washington state has the highest among states at $16.28. Georgia and Wyoming have the lowest at $5.15, while five southern states have no state minimum wage at all.
Raise the Wage Ohio has until the state's July 3 deadline to gather approximately 450,000 valid signatures to put the amendment on the ballot. According to Saru Jayaraman, the group's president, organizers have surpassed 550,000 signatures thus far, but are aiming to gather 700,000 to ensure that the measure will make it on the November ballot.