Business

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

Published

11 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.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

CVS Paying $10.4B in Cash for Drug Distributor Omnicare

Don't Miss

Loans, Taxes, Regulations on Small Business Election Agenda

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Business

Richmond Fire Victims Benefit from Tacos El Rulas Fundraiser

On 23rd Street Sunday, Richmond did what Richmond often does in its hardest moments: It showed up. Hundreds of community members gathered at Tacos El Rulas on Aug. 22 in Richmond for a kermés fundraiser benefiting the Rivera family, who lost four family mem

Published

7 hours ago

August 29, 2026

Post News Group

By Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard

On 23rd Street Sunday, Richmond did what Richmond often does in its hardest moments: It showed up.

Hundreds of community members gathered at Tacos El Rulas on Aug. 22 in Richmond for a kermés fundraiser benefiting the Rivera family, who lost four family members in a house fire last week that authorities have described as suspicious.

The family-owned restaurant on 23rd Street turned a Sunday afternoon into a neighborhood act of care. A flyer for the event declared “Richmond Comes Together for the Rivera Family,” and the scene outside the restaurant made good on that promise: Families, neighbors, Richmond police officers and firefighters came by to support the cause. Proceeds from the day are intended to help the family with funeral expenses and more.

“We’re just here as public service to try to support the family and the community,” said Richmond Police Department Crime Prevention Manager Michelle Milam, who was among the public safety representatives at the event. “We think that this is a way that the community is trying to come together around pain and tragedy.”

Raoul Ramirez, Angel’s father and owner of Tacos El Rulas, said the fundraiser was simply about giving “back to the community.” He said he knows the Rivera family and wanted to step up for them after the tragedy. Photo by Kathy Chouteau.

Milam said police and firefighters wanted to offer “our support and our care and our concern in the midst of the tragedy.”

The fundraiser was organized by the Ramirez family, owners of Tacos El Rulas. Angel Ramirez said the event was created specifically for the Rivera family and that “100%” of proceeds from food and drink sales would go to help them.

Customers purchased $2 tickets each, Angel said, then used them for tacos, water, drinks and other offerings at various stands in the spacious area in front of the restaurant, allowing organizers to keep count of the proceeds. “We’re just here to support them,” he said.

For Angel, the loss has affected the whole community. “It is hard,” he said, uttering, “heartbroken.”

The deaths resulting from the Aug. 18 fire included a 33-year-old woman, her 47-year-old father, her 5-year-old son, and her 2-year-old daughter. Authorities arrested 32-year-old Sergio Rivera Vega, a relative of the victims who lived at the residence, near the scene in connection with the suspicious fire.

Sunday’s fundraiser did not erase the enormity of the loss. It did something distinctly Richmond: It made sure the family did not have to stand alone in it.

Those unable to attend Sunday’s event, but who wish to support the Rivera family, can donate through the GoFundMe campaign established to help cover funeral and burial expenses.

Post News Group

Posts by Post News Group

Black History

Arnold Perkins: At 85, a Life of Service, Faith and Giving Back

Perkins believes that health is not simply physical. It is emotional, mental, and spiritual. And for much of his life, he says, his faith and philosophy of service have kept him vibrant, happy and connected to the world around him.

Published

8 hours ago

August 29, 2026

Post News Group

By Tanya Dennis

The Post’s Healthy Aging Series addresses key components for healthy aging: mind, body and spirit. This article addresses the importance of having a strong spiritual or religious foundation.

As America’s population grows older, conversations about healthy aging often focus on diet, exercise and medical care. But for Dr. Arnold Xavier Cornelius Perkins, who will celebrate his 85th birthday next month, another ingredient has been equally important: a spiritual foundation and a lifelong commitment to serving others.

“I am my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper,” Perkins said. “I am a ‘we’ person,” and referenced the South African expression of ‘Ubuntu,’ which means ‘I am because we all are.”

Born in Miami, Florida, Perkins came to California in 1954 with his family to attend a Seventh-day Adventist General Conference. His family ultimately decided to remain in California, unwilling to return to the harsh racism of the segregated South.

He grew up in Berkeley, attending Golden Gate Academy, Willard School, and Berkeley High School before joining the Navy during the Vietnam War era. He later attended Merritt College when the Black Panther Party was emerging in Oakland, where he became involved as a volunteer for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He graduated from San Francisco State University and completed additional coursework at Cal State East Bay.

His professional career became a remarkable journey through public service. Perkins served as Alameda County’s homeless coordinator, became a program officer with the San Francisco Foundation, headed a drug and alcohol program, and ultimately served as director of the Alameda County Public Health Department for 12 years before retiring in 2006.

But retirement did not mean stepping away from service.

Perkins jokingly describes this stage of his life as being in “preferment,” doing what he pleases. What he pleases, however, is continuing to help people.

He has worked with young people, served on San Quentin Prison’s warden advisory council, previously served on the Oakland Police Department Selection Commission, and completed two terms as chair of the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission. He chaired the University of San Francisco’s Helen Diller Stanley Comprehensive Cancer Center for 10 years and is now in his 11th year serving on the California Wellness Foundation board.

Perkins even views a hereditary heart defect through the lens of his spiritual philosophy.

“I have a hole in my heart, so I’m not physically perfect,” he said. “But I look at it as I have a hole because I pour my heart out to people.”

That perspective may be one of his greatest lessons about healthy living. Perkins believes that kindness, compassion and community have a direct impact on a person’s emotional and spiritual well-being.

“If I see an unsheltered relative, I’d give them that $20,” he said. “My responsibility is to take care.”

For Perkins, giving does not deplete a person; it gives life back. “My life’s mission is to give,” he said. “And what I get back is life.”

He knows firsthand that one person can change another person’s destiny. As a young man, Perkins stuttered and often fought in response to the teasing and humiliation he experienced. A teacher, Jeff Tedisco, defended him and changed the direction of his life.

“If it hadn’t been for him,” Perkins said, “I would have been in San Quentin.”

Instead, Perkins now goes to Indaba Court, a restorative justice program, to help young people who have made wrong choices understand that they are part of a larger community.

“When they harm one person, they harm the community,” he said.

His prescription for a vibrant life is simple: be understanding, be kind and remember that life is not all about you.

“When we fold our arms, we can’t receive anything,” Perkins said. “But when we stretch out our arms and serve one another, we build community.”

At nearly 85, Arnold Perkins continues to prove that a life rooted in faith, service and love may be one of the most powerful foundations for healthy aging.

Next Week: Brenda Dennis Harris “The Body Temple.”