Business

Los Angeles Becomes Latest US City to Favor $15 Minimum Wage

Published

9 years ago

May 20, 2015

Supporters applaud during the minimum wage increase vote as the Los Angeles City Council votes to raise the minimum wage in the city to $15 an hour by 2020, making it the largest city in the nation to do so, in Los Angeles Tuesday, May 19, 2015. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles is the latest and biggest city to endorse a hike in the minimum wage, adding to a string of successes for unions and advocates for the poor who have made it a primary objective as American wages stagnate.

But even those who backed the City Council’s vote for a $15-an-hour wage by 2020 — more than double the current federal minimum requirement — admit it’s an experiment.

There is only patchy data on whether minimum wage bumps hurt or help city economies overall. Seattle and San Francisco only recently passed laws that gradually raise the wage to $15 an hour over several years, while Chicago passed one last year that plateaus at $13.

Still, Los Angeles politicians felt they had to do something to help the throngs of working poor in a city that has some of the highest housing costs in the nation and where nearly 1 in 4 people lives below the poverty line.

The lopsided vote Tuesday of 14-1 ordering drafting of a wage law and the support of Mayor Eric Garcetti virtually guarantee its eventual adoption.

“Today, help is on the way for the 1 million Angelenos who live in poverty,” Garcetti said after the vote.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he also wants to boost his city’s lowest hourly pay to $15.

Calls for raising the minimum wage at the national, state and local levels have built as the nation struggles with fallout from the recession, worsening income inequality, persistent poverty and the challenges of immigration and the globe economy.

Average hourly wages in the nation rose just 3 cents in April to $24.87. Wages have risen only 2.2 percent over the past 12 months, roughly the same sluggish pace of the past six years, according to Labor Department figures.

The 9 million jobs lost during the recession have played a role in keeping wages down around the nation and even the recovery has had limited impact.

But the idea of granting people a “living wage” precedes the recession. Baltimore began requiring such a wage for employers with state contracts in 1994. More than 100 cities and counties went on to adopt such laws and in 2007, Maryland adopted the nation’s first statewide bill.

Nationwide, labor unions have been active in calling for increases and in organizing low-paid workers such as hotel cleaners, fast-food clerks and chain-store employees.

An ordinance passed last fall in Los Angeles raised the minimum wage to $15.37 an hour for workers at some hotels starting in July.

Nationwide events last month called on McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and similar companies to pay workers at least $15 an hour.

The Los Angeles ordinance would raise the minimum wage from $9 to $10.50 in July 2016, followed by annual increases until 2020. Nonprofits and businesses with 25 or fewer employees would have an additional year to reach the $15 plateau.

All of the wage hikes are geared toward helping the working poor, especially in cities such as Los Angeles where the price of survival can be daunting.

Councilman Paul Krekorian said his mother raised a family while waiting tables for minimum wage.

“It would be a whole lot harder to raise a family now doing what she did … because minimum wage has not kept up with the cost of living, with the cost of housing, with the cost of transportation or any of the other costs that we all have to bear,” Krekorian said.

In many states, the push to raise local minimum wages is opposed by state officials concerned that such measures could create a confusing patchwork of pay rates.

The lone dissenting vote in Los Angeles came from Councilman Mitchell Englander, who said he felt raising the minimum wage above that of other Southern California communities might lead businesses to cut working hours and jobs and make it impossible for entire industries to do business.

Some critics question whether raising the minimum wage will actually help the poorest employees.

Among other things, the higher wages may prompt employers to eliminate the least-skilled workers. Also, many minimum-wage workers aren’t poor — many are teenagers who eventually get better jobs — while “most poor families have no workers at all,” argued David Neumark, director of the, Center for Economics & Public Policy at University of California, Irvine, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed piece this month.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 8 – 14, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May May 8 – 14, 2024

Published

1 day ago

May 10, 2024

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Bay Area

Mayor Breed Proposes Waiving City Fees for Night Markets, Block Parties, Farmers’ Markets, Other Outdoor Community Events

Mayor London N. Breed introduced legislation on April 26 to encourage and expand outdoor community events. The first will waive City fees for certain events, making them less costly to produce. The second will simplify the health permitting for special event food vendors through the creation of an annual permit. Both pieces of legislation are part of the Mayor’s broader initiative to bring vibrancy and entertainment to San Francisco’s public right of ways and spaces.

Published

1 week ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Outdoor community events are integral to San Francisco’s vibrant culture and sense of community. iStock image.

Mayor’s Press Office

Mayor London N. Breed introduced legislation on April 26 to encourage and expand outdoor community events.

The first will waive City fees for certain events, making them less costly to produce. The second will simplify the health permitting for special event food vendors through the creation of an annual permit. Both pieces of legislation are part of the Mayor’s broader initiative to bring vibrancy and entertainment to San Francisco’s public right of ways and spaces.

Outdoor community events are integral to San Francisco’s vibrant culture and sense of community. These events include night markets, neighborhood block parties and farmers markets, and bolster the City’s economy by supporting local businesses and attracting tourists eager to experience San Francisco’s unique charm and food scene.

They offer residents, workers and visitors, opportunities to engage with local artists, musicians, and food vendors while enjoying the San Francisco’s stunning outdoor spaces and commercial corridors.

The legislation will allow for more and new community gatherings and for local food vendors to benefit from the City’s revitalization.

“San Francisco is alive when our streets are filled with festivals, markets, and community events,” said Breed. “As a city we can cut fees and streamline rules so our communities can bring joy and excitement into our streets and help revitalize San Francisco.”

Fee Waiver Legislation

The events that can take advantage of the new fee waivers are those that are free and open to the public, occupy three or fewer city blocks, take place between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., and have the appropriate permitting from the ISCOTT and the Entertainment Commission.

The applicant must be a San Francisco based non-profit, small business, Community Benefit District, Business Improvement District, or a neighborhood or merchant association. Fees eligible for waiver include any application, permit, and inspection/staffing fees from San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Department of Public Health, Fire Department, Entertainment Commission, and Police Department.

Currently, it can cost roughly anywhere between $500-$10,000 to obtain permits for organized events or fairs, depending on its size and scope. Organizations and businesses are limited to a maximum of 12 events in one calendar year for which they can receive these fee waivers.

Food Vendor Streamlining Legislation

The second piece of legislation introduced will help special event food vendors easily participate in multiple events throughout the year with a new, cost-effective annual food permit. Food vendors who participate in multiple events at multiple locations throughout the year will no longer need to obtain a separate permit for each event. Instead, special event food vendors will be able to apply and pay for a single annual permit all at once.

“Many successful food businesses either begin as pop-up vendors or participate in special events to grow their business,” says Katy Tang, Director of the Office of Small Business. “Giving them the option for an annual special event food permit saves them time and money.”

Currently, food vendors are required to get a Temporary Food Facility (TFF) permit from the Department of Public Health (DPH) in order to participate in a special event, among permits from other departments.

Currently, each special event requires a new permit from DPH ranging from $124-$244, depending on the type of food being prepared and sold. Last year, DPH issued over 1,500 individual TFF permits. With the new annual permit, food vendors selling at more than four to six events each year will benefit from hundreds of dollars in savings and time saved from fewer bureaucratic processes.

“This legislation is a step in the right direction to make it easier for food vendors like me to participate in citywide events,” said Dontaye Ball, owner of Gumbo Social. “It saves on time, money and makes it more effective. It also creates a level of equity.”

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Bay Area

Faces Around the Bay: Sidney Carey

Sidney Carey was born in Dallas, Texas. He moved with his family to West Oakland as a baby. His sister is deceased; one brother lives in Oakland. Carey was the Choir Director at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church for 18 years.

Published

1 week ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Courtesy of Sidney Lane.

By Barbara Fluhrer

Sidney Carey was born in Dallas, Texas. He moved with his family to West Oakland as a baby. His sister is deceased; one brother lives in Oakland.

Carey was the Choir Director at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church for 18 years.

He graduated from McClymonds High with a scholarship in cosmetology and was the first African American to complete a nine-month course at the first Black Beauty School in Oakland: Charm Beauty College.

He earned his License, and then attended U.C., earning a secondary teaching credential. With his Instructors License, he went on to teach at Laney College, San Mateo College, Skyline and Universal Beauty College in Pinole, among others.

Carey was the first African American hair stylist at Joseph and I. Magnin department store in Oakland and in San Francisco, where he managed the hair stylist department, Shear Heaven.

In 2009, he quit teaching and was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. He was 60 and “too old for a heart transplant”. His doctors at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) went to court and fought successfully for his right to receive a transplant. One day, he received a call from CPMC, “Be here in one hour.” He underwent a transplant with a heart from a 25-year- old man in Vienna, Austria

Two years later, Carey resumed teaching at Laney College, finally retiring in 2012.

Now, he’s slowed down and comfortable in a Senior Residence in Berkeley, but still manages to fit his 6/4” frame in his 2002 Toyota and drive to family gatherings in Oakland and San Leandro and an occasional Four Seasons Arts concert.

He does his own shopping and cooking and uses Para Transit to keep constant doctor appointments while keeping up with anti-rejection meds. He often travels with doctors as a model of a successful heart-transplant plant recipient: 14 years.

Carey says, “I’m blessed” and, to the youth, “Don’t give up on your dreams!”