NJ Democrats begin Christie end-run on minimum wage

TRENTON – Democratic state lawmakers are fast-tracking a bid to have voters next year decide whether the minimum wage should be increased to $10.10 per hour, over Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s objections -- with additional hikes to be phased in over a four-year period.

Earlier:Christie says he’s not swayed by end-run threats by Democrats

A resolution proposing a constitutional amendment has been scheduled for a public hearing Thursday by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester.

It was only last week when Christie in a pre-Labor Day veto ceremony killed Democrats’ effort to gradually raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Christie at that time said he expected Democrats to respond with another push.

“Today’s just another round in this fight on the minimum wage. But I want to make sure all of you understand it is a fight that we will all lose if we don’t fight publicly, loudly, aggressively,” Christie said after he vetoed the measure last Tuesday at a supermarket in Mercer County.

More:Complications for NJ minimum wage boost

Sweeney, who is considering a run for governor in 2017, led a successful 2013 ballot referendum that raised the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $8.25. The amendment also tied future increases to inflation, which has since bumped the rate up to $8.38.

The proposed referendum would appear on the ballot at the same time as the election for governor.

More:Guadagno has Christie disagreements but they stay private

Sweeney is not alone among prospective Democratic gubernatorial candidates in favor of a higher minimum wage.

“I have a message for our governor -- who vetoed making the minimum wage a living wage -- asking people to work more and make less is not a plan to grow the economy, it is an insult,’’ Phil Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany who announced his candidacy in May, said in a fundraising email. “Our economy is not ‘us versus them,’ it is ‘we.’ "

Bob Jordan: bjordan@gannettnj.com