State Sen. Jeff Brandes of Pinellas County refiled a joint resolution that would authorize the Legislature to establish a subminimum wage potentially as low as $4.25 an hour that employers could pay to new hires during their first six months.
Noji Olaigbe, left, from the Fight for $15 minimum wage movement, speaks during a McDonald's workers' strike at a McDonald's in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, May 23, 2019. David Santiago/Miami Herald/TNS
A year since Floridians approved Amendment 2 to gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15, a Republican lawmaker is again looking for a way to pay workers less.
State Sen. Jeff Brandes of Pinellas County refiled a joint resolution that would authorize the Legislature to establish a subminimum wage, potentially as low as $4.25 an hour, that employers could pay to new hires during their first six months.
First, lawmakers would need to pass the resolution to place it on the 2022 ballot; then, it would need 60% approval from voters.
Brandes calls the measure a “training wage.”
“The goal is to get an employer to offer a job to an employee they otherwise would not consider because of experience or other risks factors that make them a riskier hire,” Brandes said. “The goal here is to get people trained and then moved up to the minimum wage and beyond.”
But worker advocates argue it’s merely a way to undermine Amendment 2, which after receiving 60% of the vote will annually raise the minimum wage by $1 until it hits $15...
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