Post by Logan on Jul 5, 2016 2:21:32 GMT -6
BIRMINGHAM — A group of black Alabama legislators has joined a federal lawsuit alleging that racial bias fueled a state law blocking the city of Birmingham from raising the minimum wage.
The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus and several black state lawmakers on Thursday joined in the federal lawsuit filed on behalf of minimum wage workers against the state. The amended complaint alleged the state’s action violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by taking control of local wages from the majority-black city and giving it to the majority-white state Legislature.
“The persons denied the benefits of the Birmingham minimum wage legislation are predominantly African-American,” lawyers wrote in the amended complaint filed in federal court in Birmingham.
Lawyers wrote that the legislation “reverses a scheme of local control by citizens of Birmingham over the power to enact minimum wages and other terms and conditions of employment in their municipality by transferring that power from the city council elected by the majority-black Birmingham electorate to the Legislature elected by the majority-white state electorate.”
Read more: www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20160702/NEWS/160709939/1007?Title=Black-lawmakers-join-lawsuit-over-minimum-wage
The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus and several black state lawmakers on Thursday joined in the federal lawsuit filed on behalf of minimum wage workers against the state. The amended complaint alleged the state’s action violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by taking control of local wages from the majority-black city and giving it to the majority-white state Legislature.
“The persons denied the benefits of the Birmingham minimum wage legislation are predominantly African-American,” lawyers wrote in the amended complaint filed in federal court in Birmingham.
Lawyers wrote that the legislation “reverses a scheme of local control by citizens of Birmingham over the power to enact minimum wages and other terms and conditions of employment in their municipality by transferring that power from the city council elected by the majority-black Birmingham electorate to the Legislature elected by the majority-white state electorate.”
Read more: www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20160702/NEWS/160709939/1007?Title=Black-lawmakers-join-lawsuit-over-minimum-wage