Video by Bill Sorem; Text by Michael McIntee and Bill Sorem

The fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage in Minneapolis moves to Hennepin County District court on Monday. Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC), one of the groups that led the petition drive to put a minimum wage charter amendment on the November ballot, plans to file suit against the city of Minneapolis for preventing residents from voting on it.

“In a city with the worst racial gaps in the entire nation, you’d think that we’d be able to vote on the ability to raise the wage,” said Mike Griffin, NOC Field Director.

On Friday, the Minneapolis City Council voted to block the inclusion on the general election ballot of a charter amendment raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. City Attorney Susan Segal’s legal opinion said it was “an ordinance disguised as a charter amendment,” and therefore should not be on the ballot.

NOC Public Policy Director Abou Amara says the state law governing charter amendments essentially has no limits on what can be put on the ballot. “It’s something the voters have a right to say in. And that’s why this is fundamentally about people’s ability to have a voice in their future and determine their community.”

NOC is planning a press conference for Monday, August 8, to further discuss this issue.