Oregon restaurants can’t halt state wage hikesOregon restaurants can’t halt state wage hikes

Lisa Jennings

SALEM Ore. The Oregon Restaurant Association and other business groups last week lobbied in support of proposed state legislation that would have halted automatic inflation-based minimum wage increases. But despite their efforts, the bill is not expected to proceed, and the state’s minimum wage will continue to rise based on inflation rates.

In public hearings here last week, restaurant association officials argued that the state’s high minimum wage is partly to blame for Oregon’s elevated unemployment rate of 12.1 percent, compared with the national rate of 8.5 percent.

The minimum wage in Oregon increased by 45 cents on Jan. 1 to $8.40, the second highest in the country behind Washington. Oregon also is one of just a handful of states that do not use a tip credit, which allows restaurants to count tips as wages and therefore reduce the minimum paid salary for tipped workers. Many in the industry contend that higher labor costs in Oregon have forced restaurants to cut jobs, or even close, adding to the state’s roster of unemployed.

Last month, state House minority leader Rep. Bruce Hanna, R-Rosenburg, introduced House Bill 3053, which sought to override a citizen initiative adopted in 2002 that linked the state’s minimum wage to inflation. If adopted, the legislation would have suspended indexing based on inflation rates if state unemployment levels exceed national rates. Just seven states currently tie minimum wage increases to inflation rates or cost of living formulas.

State lawmakers had until Friday to schedule a work session for the bill to proceed and that didn’t happen, according to Kara Thallon, spokesman for the Oregon Restaurant Association. A hearing was held, however.

Thallon said the restaurant association and other businesses did not argue for a lower minimum wage, but simply asked for a “more holistic” approach to minimum wage increases, given that the automatic increases are putting some operations out of business.

The argument, however, fell on deaf ears, she said, adding that the state’s minimum wage is a “sacred cow” that lawmakers are reluctant to address.

“But it was nice of them to have a hearing,” she noted.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].