Is Minimum Wage In California - SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California lawmakers and labor unions reached a tentative deal Saturday that would raise the state's minimum wage from $10 to $15, a state senator said, a move that would affect the entire nation. will work. .
Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who stressed the deal isn't done yet, told The Associated Press that the bill will come before the House as part of his minimum wage bill that was stalled last year.
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Leno said the deal would avoid taking the issue to a vote. A union-backed initiative is already on the ballot, and another competing measure is seeking to qualify.
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"This is an issue I've been working on for years," Leno said. "The governor and related parties have been speaking seriously and humbly for some time now.
Leno would not confirm the details of the contract, but most proposals call for wages to increase by about a dollar a year until it reaches $15 an hour.
The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the deal, said wages would increase to $10.50 an hour in 2017, $11 an hour in 2018 and $15 an hour by 2022. Businesses with less than 25 employees. Additional years to implement.
At $10 an hour, California already has the lowest wage in the nation along with Massachusetts. Only Washington, DC, is higher at $10.50 an hour. The increase to $15 would make it the highest state wage in the country, though increases are in the works in other states that could change when they reach a plateau in 2022.
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Some states have passed lower minimums for government employees and state contract workers, and some cities, including Seattle, have already raised the wage to $15 an hour.
And Oregon officials earlier this month passed legislation that would raise the state's minimum wage by as much as $15 in urban areas over the next six years.
Sean Verley, a spokesman for SEIU-United Health Care Workers West, confirmed that his group was involved in the negotiations. But he said the group will move forward with its initiatives that have already been voted on.
"It's up to us to vote. We want to believe what it is," Werley said. "We are moving forward. If some agreements are signed into law, then our board of directors will decide what to do. Only after an agreement is signed, they will make that decision."
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A union proposal that has already qualified for the ballot calls for the $15 mark by 2021. Another proposed rate would be $15 by 2020. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown said such a large wage increase would be too expensive. A plan to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 by 2022 could make big changes in industries that rely on low-wage workers and improve the quality of life for millions of Californians who work in agriculture, restaurants and retail. do
"The impact is huge -- a 50 percent increase in wages in five years for more than 40 percent of workers in the Sacramento region alone," said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Center for Business and Policy Studies at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. , said Gov. Jerry Brown announced the plan Monday.
The plan, negotiated by Brown, labor leaders and lawmakers, could repeal a similar ballot measure this November and raise the state's minimum wage by as much as $1 a year, making California the highest state base in the country It would increase the earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker from $20,000 a year today to $30,000 in 2022.
Brown called the pay increase "economic fairness" during a news conference at the state Capitol on Monday.
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Some cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, have already adopted similar proposals, and Sacramento leaders recently approved an ordinance to raise the city's minimum wage to $12.50 an hour by 2020.
If the Legislature approves the newly announced plan, as expected, its positive effects could include raising the standard of living for the nearly 6 million Californians who earn the current minimum wage of $10 an hour and paying them more. to get back into the economy.
The downside could be fewer hours and fewer jobs for these workers, economists and employers said. Farmers who sell their produce outside the state may be at a greater disadvantage than farmers in states and nations where wages are low. And restaurant prices are expected to rise worldwide.
The issue is so complex, and fraught with unpredictable consequences, that it's hard to know whether the benefits or harms will prevail, Michael said. Either way, he said, "the economic effects will be huge."
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Owners and employees of businesses that employ large numbers of low-wage workers offered reactions this week that ranged from outrage to joy, but some of their thoughts went beyond pure clichés.
At a news conference Monday announcing the minimum wage deal, longtime Burger King worker and activist Holly Dias of Humboldt County hugged the governor after tearfully explaining how she would end the state's legislative deficit. Struggling to support her infant son on the wages that have increased this year. $9 to $10 per hour.
Restaurant workers across the country joined a union-led campaign to establish a $15 minimum wage across the country.
But some restaurant workers interviewed Tuesday said they weren't so sure the pay increase would be a good thing at all.
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"They don't think about how prices are going up everywhere to deal with it," said Gerryll Debis, 19. He earns $10 an hour at the Buckhorn Grill restaurant in downtown Sacramento and supports his mother and younger sister. , while attending classes at Sacramento City College.
His co-worker, Eddie Alcantara, 22, said he was making $9 to $12 an hour and is now a supervisor at the restaurant. He said he was proud of his success and thought others should do the same, and not just be paid more than zero.
Many business owners, and the political groups that represent them, said the increase in wages inevitably led to job losses and higher consumer prices.
The owner of the mid-sized Buchanan's restaurant chain — which employs 650 workers mainly in the Sacramento and Bay Area areas — said he is not happy with the plan. But he said he grudgingly accepted that he was popular among politicians and might pass.
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John Pickerle, who founded Buckhorn Steakhouse in Winters in 1980, said that instead of worrying about their fate, restaurant operators need to adopt better business practices. They can't just raise prices, because consumers won't accept it, he said.
Managers have to train and retain the most productive employees with higher wages, and mom-and-pop coffee shops with fewer employees can actually gain a competitive edge over chains with higher numbers of low-wage workers. he said.
"It's about being part of the solution and getting people to buy into the product and believe that people can learn things," Pickerel said. "We cannot use many warm bodies. There is no room for error."
A farmer said paying his workers $15 an hour would hurt his ability to compete with farmers in other states and Mexico.
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"We're already hurting with Arizona, (where farmers) pay their workers $8.05 an hour and we're going up to $10." Another increase would put us at a serious disadvantage,” said Joe Del Bosque, owner of Del Bosque Farms in Firebug.
His workers now harvest asparagus for $10 an hour or more, while workers in Mexico harvest the same crop for $10 a day, he said.
"If we can't compete with them, we can't grow some of these crops in California," Del Bosque said.
Yolo County farmer Dwayne Chamberlain said his workers, who often make less than minimum wage, start cutting alfalfa this time of year. He said he would not mind paying at least $15 an hour to all his workers, except, perhaps, those who are only apprentices.
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"My workers have been making $15 an hour since they've been around," said Chamberlain, who also sits on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. "To start people, it would be good to make children work for low wages because they don't deserve it." They don't know what they are doing."
"I can support my family. For the education of my children. I'm glad my boss agreed to the pay raise," said Aysias Aguirre as he cut grass with his brother Jose Aguirre on Tuesday. Asyas said he sends about $1,000 a month back home to Mexico to support his three children. yourself
Aside from experience levels, there are other reasons why a uniform state wage doesn't make sense, experts said.
Making $15 an hour in rural Yuba County, where the cost of living is low for California, is very different from making $15 an hour in Santa Clara County, the expensive heart of Silicon Valley.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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