The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-to-1 Wednesday in favor of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020, although details of the ordinance remain under consideration.
According to the Los Angeles Times, one more procedural vote by the City Council is necessary before the ordinance goes to Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has indicated his support. The final vote is reportedly set for June 10.
Under the measure, the city’s minimum wage would increase to $10.50 per hour for employers of more than 25 workers by July 2016, gradually increasing each year until it reaches $15 per hour in 2020. At that point, the wage would be tied to the consumer price index for automatic adjustments for inflation.
The increase would put Los Angeles in the company of cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Emeryville, Calif., as those that will reach a $15 per hour minimum wage or higher over the next few years.
Still to be determined, however, are a number of details about Los Angeles’ ordinance.
Labor groups have pushed for an exemption for unionized businesses. The possible addition of a sick leave mandate is also still on the table, and restaurants may be restricted in how they can apply “service charges” to address the increased labor cost.
According to the Times, several council members also asked city officials to report back on whether it was feasible to exempt businesses with 50 or fewer employees if they provide benefits that equal or exceed the wage requirements.
Those details, however, will likely be addressed after the ordinance is approved, as scheduled.
Meanwhile, California lawmakers are considering a proposed minimum wage increase to $13 per hour by mid 2017.
The SEIU United Healthcare Workers West has also submitted a petition for a ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021.
Ruben Gonzalez, senior vice president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, reportedly predicted that the higher wage would result in job losses across an array of industries.
“Think of the negative impacts to those owners who struggle to just try and make their American dream work,” Gonzalez told the council, according to the Times. “Today, you made the American dream for so many harder in Los Angeles.”
Supporters of the minimum wage hike, however, said the ordinance in Los Angeles demonstrates that a $15 per hour wage is a “tangible reality."
“With Los Angeles, the movement for a $15 minimum wage has gone mainstream, expanding from smaller cities to the nation’s second largest labor market,” Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said in a statement. “The LA City Council’s adoption of $15 is further proof that what seemed an unrealistic economic aspiration only two years ago is mainstream economic reality today.”
Mary Carmen Farfan, a Burger King employee from Los Angeles active in the “Fight for $15” movement, also said in a statement that the higher wage will bring meaningful change to families across the city.
Forced to rely on food stamps and MediCal to support her four children on the existing minimum wage of $9 per hour, Farfan said, “We applaud the City Council for sticking up for hundreds of thousands of workers like me in Los Angeles who are working hard to provide for our families. And we’ll keep standing up and speaking out until we win $15 and union rights everywhere. I can’t wait to see which city is next.”
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
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