Minimum Wage Hearings Not Doing Much For Gov.

Sacramento, CA – When it comes to raising the minimum wage, it seems like no one can agree.

The California Labor Federation is sponsoring bills in the Assembly and Senate to boost the $6.75 minimum wage by $1 and make future increases automatic with the rate of inflation.

Both bills breezed through committee hearings this week, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger twice has vetoed similar raises and repeatedly said he again will veto any legislation including "autopilot" increases.

But Schwarzenegger supports an increase. In his State of the State address, he proposed a $1 increase that would raise the minimum wage without future adjustments for inflation.

That bill failed in its first hearing Wednesday. In Sacramento, positions appeared to harden as the week wore on.

Schwarzenegger´s press secretary says there is no way the governor would support an automatic increase of the minimum wage. Labor supporters pledged they wouldn´t compromise, either.

Written by Sabrina Sabbagh