State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

When a State Balks at a City's Minimum Wage

The New York Times: BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Veronica Roscoe, who earns $7.75 an hour working at a Burger King here, thought last August that she had won: This city had become the first in the South to approve a local minimum wage.

“It was, ‘Wow, victory,’ “ Ms. Roscoe, 55, said. “I was running around the job, acting a fool.”

But that was before the Alabama Legislature met, and before a showdown between state lawmakers and city leaders about who should have the authority to set wage policy in Birmingham. The dispute is a particularly ferocious version of a divide playing out nationally as cities increasingly move to raise their minimum wages and some states, particularly those controlled by Republicans, try to restrict their ability to set floors on pay.

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