Mayor: Miami Beach fights for wage hikes

Re Jesse Panuccio’s May 16 opinion piece, Miami Beach waging futile attempt to raise minimum wage: Pannucio, Gov. Rick Scott’s former director of Florida’s Office of Economic Opportunity, has taken aim at Miami Beach’s efforts to build progress for our local workforce.

In addressing Panuccio’s argument regarding the CBO’s analysis of minimum-wage standards, Goldman Sachs analysts also reviewed the report and concluded that its job-loss estimates are overblown.

In fact, the National Employment Law Project shared, “Even with its flawed analysis, taken as a whole the CBO report concluded that 24.5 million workers would benefit from a wage increase and nearly 1 million would be lifted out of poverty.” There is nothing more powerful than a worker motivated to succeed. I saw this first hand while creating my companies.

In Seattle, where the minimum-wage increase was implemented a year ago, local economists show the law has strengthened the community with no disruption in the local economy.

Miami Beach has led the way in LGBT rights, combating sea-level rise and instilling greater transparency in our government. We must now lead the way in the next fight for human rights by reversing the trend that makes Florida a high-cost, low-wage state.

By working with the business community to establish a citywide minimum living wage, we will be able to empower our local workforce. This is why businesses like The Betsy Hotel have endorsed our approach.

While Scott may have been shortsighted in signing the 2013 law, the Florida Constitution, as amended in 2004 by 70 percent of Floridians cannot be clearer: Floridians want our state to be a place where residents are able to make a living wage and be empowered to live to their greatest potential.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Mayor: Miami Beach fights for wage hikes."