Romney rejects legislature's bid to raise minimum wage

BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed a bill Friday that would have raised minimum wage to $8 an hour by January 2008.

The state's 250,000 minimum wage workers have made $6.75 an hour since the last wage raise, seven years ago.

"Although we share a common goal of increasing the minimum wage, we have not been able to come to an agreement on the size of that increase," Romney said in a brief statement from his office to the Legislature.

Romney had proposed increasing the rate to $7 an hour, starting in January 2007, and requiring the state to review the amount every two years based on the consumer price index and other data such as state unemployment, joblessness and minimum wage in competing states.

Increases would not be guaranteed, he said, but subject recommendation by administrative officials to the governor and Legislature.

"I think it would be great if everybody could earn very high levels of compensation, but the challenge with raising the minimum wage excessively is it is a hurt to those that are entering the work force, the very poor, those that are trying to get early jobs, get those first jobs," Romney said in earlier this week.

The Legislature approved a bill that would move the minimum wage to $7.50 as of January 2007, and increase it to $8 the next year. It had strong, largely bipartisan support, and Romney's veto could be overridden on Monday, the last day of legislative session.

Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, a sponsor of the legislation, said he is disappointed by Romney's action, but expects the Legislature will overrule the governor.

"I'm optimistic we will have the nececessary two-thirds in both houses to override the veto and to ensure that the minimum wage worker who has gone without for the last five years will finally get a raise that is just and equitable," he said.

Advocates of an increased minimum wage have accused Romney, who is considering a run for the 2008 presidential nomination, of changing his positions to align himself with national Republicans who have recently been fighting to keep the national wage at $5.15.

In 2002, he had proposed a raise to $6.96 an hour and tying increases to the consumer price index alone, which, economists said, would virtually ensure an increase every year.