Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith vetoed a minimum wage increase for tribal workers and businesses. The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council approved raising the five-dollar-and-15-cent federal minimum wage to eight dollars an hour on Sept. 11. Smith favors a "phased in" approach instead. Apparently not wanting to endorse conservative arguments that raising the minimum wage hurts small businesses and teenage workers, Chief Smith said he objected to the increase because new workers would make as much as a worker who has worked for the tribe for three years. What??? I thought the idea of increasing the minimum wage was designed to "lift people out of poverty" and "increase their dignity?" How does a two tier wage system accomplish these goals? Posted at 9/20/2006 12:13:00 PM