In response to reports that Assembly will introduce a bill that puts New Jersey workers on a path to a $15 minimum wage, but exempts teen workers, farmworkers, tipped workers, seasonal workers and employees of small businesses until 2029, New Jersey Working Families Executive Director, Analilia Mejia, issued the following statement:

“The language released this morning is an utter disappointment. Over 1 million News Jersey workers currently struggle to make ends meet. Under the proposal released today by the legislature, hundreds of thousands of workers would have to wait over a decade to get to $15 an hour, and may never again have parity amongst other minimum wage workers. For years the same legislators championed a bill that raised workers to $15 an hour over 5 years. Now that they have the opportunity to deliver on their promises, they opt to chart a course that creates a subclass of wages, and leaves mostly female workers and communities of color behind. They do so to appease a business lobby that ironically comes cap in hand during budget season to ask for tax breaks to spur growth, that over 1 million economically stable consumers would provide New Jersey. This proposal is unconscionable.”

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