The Nation - News from Feb. 21, 1989

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) said in Bal Harbour, Fla., that he expects Congress to pass legislation increasing the federal minimum wage this year. Mitchell made the prediction after meeting with the executive council of the AFL-CIO on the first day of its annual winter meeting. The council passed a resolution calling on the Congress “to act quickly and favorably” on bills that would raise the minimum wage to $4.65 an hour over the next three years. The federal minimum has been $3.35 an hour for eight years and, according to the AFL-CIO, it now takes $4.56 to purchase as much as the $3.35 minimum did when it took effect in January, 1981. President Bush has said he favors an increase in the minimum if it is coupled with a sub-minimum or “training” wage for youths. Both Mitchell and AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland reiterated their opposition to a sub-minimum wage for teen-agers.