Florida Shows How to Fight Inequality

With Congress paralyzed by partisan gridlock and the federal minimum wage stuck at $7.25 an hour, the states have stepped into the vacuum and are setting policy. Florida has just become the 8th state to adopt a $15 an hour minimum wage by mid-decade.

Florida's action adds momentum to the mushrooming nationwide movement.to generate a more livable wage for working families and to combat the lopsided income inequality, fostered by the super-rich on Wall Street and rated the most extreme among the world's advanced countries.

Since what many call the "Fight for $15" broke out eight years ago, 29 states have taken action to increase their minimum wage level. What's striking is that often the impetus for change comes not from governors or state legislatures but from grassroots citizen movements which put the issue of improving minimum wage on the ballot for a popular vote.

These reform movements have been winning popular majorities, even in conservative red states like Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota- and now Florida, where the constitutional amendment establishing the $15 minimum wage won a 61% super-majority of nearly 6.4 million votes. More Floridian voted for a higher minimum wage than voted for Donald Trump.