COLUMBUS, Ohio – Democratic gubernatorial challenger Ed FitzGerald is in favor of raising Ohio’s minimum wage, but hopes Congress takes a hand so the playing field remains level.
“The minimum wage does not pay for what it used to, there’s more and more people trying to survive off of minimum wage, ten percent of the state now is earning the minimum wage at seven dollars and change is just not cutting it anymore,” FitzGerald said in an interview airing on Sunny 95’s “Perspective” program on July 20.
Ohio’s minimum wage is currently $7.95 an hour.
FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County Executive, wants the wage increase to come from Capitol Hill and favors a move to increase it to $10.10 an hour.
“I think that causes confusion and some economic uncertainty but I’d like to see us get there,” he said.
More than 30 states have considered minimum-wage legislation in 2014, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Ten of them, and the District of Columbus, have enacted increases and some — including Michigan, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and Vermont – have raised their wages above $9 an hour or are phasing the increases in.
FitzGerald began airing his first television ad in Cleveland and Columbus this week. The 30-second spot titled “Promise” features images of blue-collar workers, farmers, firefighters, police and teachers as FitzGerald pledges to get Ohio “working for working people.”
Incumbent Republican John Kasich is ahead in polls and fundraising, but saw some of his lowest approval ratings during a 2011 battle over a law he’d signed that limited the collective bargaining powers of public employee unions.
FitzGerald and Kasich are disagreeing over whose favored economic policies can do more to help Ohioans.