Florida lawmaker suggests 'training pay' to limit Florida's newly-passed $15 minimum wage | firstcoastnews.com

Tallahassee, Florida — November, Florida voters approve

, And gradually increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years.

But now the St. Petersburg State Senator Jeff Brandes is proposing an amendment to lower the minimum wage of certain people deemed "difficult to hire."

Senator Branders said: "The goal here is to get people to stand up."

Brandes said his idea of ​​creating a "training salary" in Florida was misunderstood.

Brands said: "The purpose of training wages is not permanent." "The purpose of this is to enable employers to see those they do not want to see. In order to support them, they can get more than the minimum wage in the future. More places and get the job they want."

Brands believes that raising the minimum wage in Florida to $15 an hour will result in increased unemployment for certain people deemed "difficult to hire", including those under 21, inexperienced, felons, and state punishment. Prisoners in the teaching system, employers may also think that these people risk renting them for $15 an hour.

"There is no doubt that people will look at this in a variety of different ways. My goal and intention is to get these people with much higher unemployment rates to find jobs." Brands said.

Brandes' proposal was immediately rejected.

Manny Diaz, the chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, issued a statement saying: "This is another example of Republicans. It decides that the will of the people is not enough. They have the right to clarify and limit the parameters of the officially passed amendment. . It’s not the job of the Republican Party to limit minimum wage increases for a population that they obviously don’t think is worthwhile.” Diaz said.

He added: "This is absurd and discriminatory." "Floridas have voted more than 60% to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. It is so simple."

The chairman of the Florida Democratic Party has called for an absurd bill to prevent certain populations from receiving the $15 minimum wage

Low-paying people like Fran Marion who work at McDonald's worry that this might undermine the future she thinks is bright for her and her children.

"Hold our heads. The food on our table. Health care. Also, there is money to send them to university," Marion said. "There are too many of us, especially the black and brown workers on the front lines of the epidemic are left behind."

Brandes’ proposal also caught the attention of senior lawyer John Morgan, who spent $6 million with his own money to pass Amendment 2 in November. Morgan reiterated his words about any attempts to withdraw the vote in a statement.

"If the legislature continues to subvert the will of the people with this naked attempt to replace work and family with child labor, I will sue the state. I will win again." Morgan said.

Brandes stated that his proposal will not harm the wishes of Florida voters, because the idea of ​​the Second Amendment of his amendment will not pass the bill in the legislature, but will be put on the ballot, requiring voters to be in 2022. Approval.

Brands said: "I know that raising the minimum wage of certain people has a positive meaning." "I also understand that it has a negative impact. We are just trying to resolve the negative impact in a transparent and reasonable way. This is the case for many other states and The federal government has recognized and used it. This is the concept of training wages."

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