Apparently it’s not bad enough that Oklahoma has refused to participate in the expansion of Medicaid. Governor Mary Fallin (R) has just signed a bill that prohibits cities in Oklahoma from passing their own labor laws.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Cities in Oklahoma are prohibited from establishing mandatory minimum wage or vacation and sick-day requirements under a bill that has been signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin. [...]
Opponents say those decisions should be left up to individual communities. They complain the bill specifically targets Oklahoma City, where an initiative is underway to a establish a citywide minimum wage higher than the current federal minimum wage.
More:
Fallin said she signed the bill out of the worry that higher local minimum wages “would drive businesses to other communities and states, and would raise prices for consumers.” She also argued that “most minimum wage workers are young, single people working part-time or entry level jobs” and that “many are high school or college students living with their parents in middle-class families.”
That may have been the case 10 or 15 years ago, but that is not the case today. The situation was already growing dire, but the 2008 financial crisis and the resulting recession pushed more adults, many of whom are educated, into minimum wage jobs.
I assume that most Republicans are clueless on what the job market really looks like, but even if they understood I doubt they would drop the tired rhetoric.
If you’re among the working poor in Oklahoma, the Republican party is doing everything they can to keep you down. They don’t want you to have a livable wage or healthcare.