By Doug Porter
Supporters of a hike in local minimum wages left nothing to chance yesterday as a city council decision on a proposal by Todd Gloria neared. Over 400 hundred people showed up at city hall for a 6pm hearing, filling the council chambers and two overflow rooms. Many wore pink signs indicating their support.
Email and social media reminders abounded during the day, including a mid-day Raise Up San Diego-led “Twitterstorm.” More than 100 people testified before the council. Highlights included former basketball star Bill Walton standing up in favor of the measure and United Foodservice and Commercial Workers’ Mickey Kasparian giving an impassioned speech.
In the end, the City Council did the right thing, voting 6-3 to enact by ordinance a minimum wage hike, with raises in three stages effective January, 2015. This means the measure will not be placed before the voters in November.
Additional increases will come in successive years, topping out at $11.50 in January, 2017. Starting in January 2019, further hikes will be tied to the consumer price index.
The measure as passed awards full time employees up to five days a year in earned paid sick leave; part-time workers will earn prorated sick leave based on the number of hours they work.
Via Point Loma Democratic Club
How It Will Work
City Council President Todd Gloria held a celebratory press conference following the vote, leading off with “Tonight, the City Council made history.”
A press release from his office supplied further details:
The proposal includes no exemptions for any industry or business.The Center on Policy Initiatives estimated that 279,000 workers will now earn sick leave.
The Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at UC Berkeley also analyzed the proposal and determined it will result in raises for at least 172,000 San Diegans. Further, the number of San Diegans receiving raises could be as high as 214,000 in 2017.On average, the raises will add $1,400 per year to the paychecks of employees now making minimum wage or slightly above it, resulting in an additional $260 million per year going into the pockets of low-income San Diegans, which they are expected to spend on necessities like food, shelter, and clothing, benefiting the local economy.
The Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics, which specializes in estimating the impacts o local and state wage proposals, detailed additional impacts of the San Diego measure in its analysis.
**An estimated 60% of people working in the local food services industry will get a raise byJanuary 1, 2017, a larger proportion than in any other industry. In sheer numbers, the retail trade industry will account for the most raises.
** Half of everyone working part-time (less than 35 hours a week) will get a raise.
** 85% of those earning a raise will be between age 20 and 55; only 5% of those getting a raise would be teenagers
It Ain’t Over ‘Till It’s Over
The really big question this morning as I write this post concerns the response of San Diego’s downtown establishment-types to this measure.
via Twitter
From CBS8/News coverage:
Mayor Kevin Faulconer has the authority to veto the minimum wage ordinance. His spokesperson would not say if he plans to veto it but released this statement via e-mail:
“Mayor Faulconer believes San Diego thrives through its entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses that help everyday San Diegans put food on the table and provide for their families. As mayor, he is committed to helping San Diegans succeed and create opportunity. He has been very clear that he will not put the brakes on our recovering economy by placing a hindrance on local small businesses that will force them to cut jobs or hire fewer people. Mayor Faulconer is working to provide economic opportunity and jobs for all San Diegans, which is why he does not support this proposal.”
There were indications yesterday that opponents of the minimum wage increase were considering various options.
Read between the lines here in this 10News snippet:
On the other hand, Channelle Hawken, of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said raising the minimum wage above that of California would put the city at a competitive disadvantage.
“We are already seeing and hearing from our members that have businesses that are raising prices and cutting jobs in response to the current increase in the (state) minimum wage,” Hawken said. The state minimum hourly wage went from $8 to $9 on July 1.
Hawken said a recent survey of chamber members found that the proposed minimum wage increase is a bigger concern than healthcare expenses, and that 14 percent of members are considering moving out of San Diego.
The Chamber of Commerce, led by ex-Mayor Jerry Sanders was supportive of two other recent efforts to overturn measures passed by the city council. Repealing a minimum wage hike may be a tougher task than overturning a community plan or rolling back developers’ linkage fees to 1990 levels.
The question remains whether the downtown set’s Lie-O-Tron computer can generate enough scare stories to sway voters. One commenter in today’s UT made the prediction that San Diego would end up like Detroit. But this IS going to be a tough sell.
After all, as the Washington Post pointed out not too long ago:
Minimum wage hikes have been popular with voters: Since 1996, proposed increases have been on statewide ballots 15 times in 11 states — and all but two of them were successful, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a Washington, D.C., group that supports a higher minimum wage.
A Rising Tide: $15 Hour in LA?
Unlike their earlier successes, the downtown/chamber types won’t be able to divorce the issue of inequality from a national context.
Eleven other municipalities around the United States have passed similar ordinances, including Albuquerque NM, Seattle WA, Bernalillo County NM, Montgomery County MD, Prince George’s County MD, San Francisco CA, San Jose CA, Santa Fe, NM, Santa Fe County NM, Washington DC, and Richmond CA.
The Los Angeles Times reports activists are planning an initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 hour in that city:
Their proposal would require a $15 minimum wage for employees who work at least two hours a week for their employer, including workers who get tips. The minimum wage would then rise annually, hitched to any increases in the consumer price index for the Los Angeles metropolitan area, according to the draft proposal. Businesses that violate the rules could face financial penalties. If ultimately approved by voters, the boost would go into effect immediately for larger businesses, with a delay of less than two years for small businesses and nonprofits, Parker said…
…The bid to boost the minimum wage citywide follows other efforts to boost pay for some — but not all — Angelenos. The Los Angeles Unified School District recently opted to ramp up wages to at least $15 an hour for service workers such as cafeteria employees, custodians and teaching assistants.
In a separate move, city officials are drafting an ordinance that would require large hotels to pay at least $15.37 an hour. But some local politicians who support that boost — including Mayor Eric Garcetti — have raised concerns about singling out hotel workers for a minimum wage increase. Nearly half of L.A.’s hourly or salaried workers are paid less than $15 an hour, according to a 2013 report by the Economic Roundtable.
In Other News, the Congressional GOP Did Something Stupid
San Diego Congressmen Darrell Issa and Duncan Hunter voted with the Republican majority in the House of Representatives last week to prohibit both the U.S. Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers from spending “to design, implement, administer or carry out specified assessments regarding climate change.”
From Salon.com:
Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., is on a roll. After successfully passing a budget amendment back in May that basically forbids the Pentagon from acknowledging climate science — despite the fact that the Department of Defense considers doing so to be vital to national security — his newest effort prohibits both the U.S. Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers from spending “to design, implement, administer or carry out specified assessments regarding climate change.”
“Spending precious resources to pursue a dubious climate change agenda compromises our clean-energy research and America’s infrastructure,” McKinley said on the House floor, according to the WV Gazette. “Congress should not be spending money pursuing ideologically driven experiments.”
Congresspersons Susan Davis, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas voted against the amendment, which passed 229 to 188.
More Stupid – No Comment Needed
From Mother Jones (emphasis mine):
Last week, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) wrote a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a dire warning: Some of the child refugeesstreaming across the southern border into the United States might carry deadly diseases. “Reports of illegal immigrants carrying deadly diseases such as swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and tuberculosis are particularly concerning,” Gingrey wrote. “Many of the children who are coming across the border also lack basic vaccinations such as those to prevent chicken pox or measles.”
Gingrey’s analysis carried an aura of credibility among conservatives, because, as Judicial Watch noted, the congressman is “also [a] medical doctor.” But his two-page letter is filled with false charges—there’s no evidence that migrants carry Ebola or that they’re less likely to be vaccinated—from an inconvenient messenger: The congressman has himself pushed legislation to discourage some kinds of mandatory vaccinations in the United States…
…Gingrey’s misdiagnoses aren’t confined to Ebola. As the Texas Observer points out, when it comes to measles, children in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras are more likely to be vaccinated than children in the United States. None of those countries have recorded an outbreak of measles in 24 years. Kids in Marin County are more at risk.
On This Day: 1789 – The electors of Paris set up a “Commune” to live without the authority of the government. 1959– 500,000 began what became a 116-day strike shuttering nearly every steel mill in the country. Management wanted to dump contract language limiting its ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery that would result in reduced hours or fewer employees. 1971 – U.S. President Nixon announced he would visit the People’s Republic of China to seek a “normalization of relations.”
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Doug Porter
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Gotta love that last item:
“As the Texas Observer points out, when it comes to measles, children in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras are more likely to be vaccinated than children in the United States. None of those countries have recorded an outbreak of measles in 24 years.”
I became a single mother in San Diego about 14 years ago. My children’s father initially evaded providing any financial support or medical benefits for our daughters.
I attended a mandatory Welfare to Work program which included computer access, resume building, and job search options. I first worked a couple days as a temp, but secured a temp-to-hire job at a tech firm within a week. I worried sometimes about another single mother of two I had met in the program. She was about my age, but only had her GED.
I’m white (yes, it’s an advantage) and had three years’ college education at the time, and I made about $15 per hour to start. My girls got off MediCal and onto my plan, but I still received a childcare subsidy, WIC, and food stamps. I shared a moldy two bedroom apartment with my Mom in O.B. and we scarcely scraped by.
We counted ourselves lucky to have found that apartment at all (at least until the mold issue became apparent and my eldest daughter developed asthma). There were so few affordable apartments, and it was extremely competitive to get in. The old Portuguese landlord gruffly said when he approved us: “You keep those babies quiet.”
All this to say: hooray, San Diego, a minimum wage increase is progress for hard working people. It’s not likely enough to get working families off subsidies (and we still need more affordable housing), but it’s a big step forward.
It’s unfortunate that Todd Gloria had to compromise the original proposal and the Republicans on Council STILL opposed this sensible increase. Councilmembers Zapf, Sherman, and Kersey don’t care about working San Diegans who make poverty wages.
Maybe because minimum wage workers can’t afford to make campaign contributions, but business owners can.
OOOPS! Sorry gang.
That vote your elected Councilperson made last night –after public hearings, and a one-sided compromise– was “undemocratic” according to the Neighborhood Marketing Association. They’re offering up interviews of poor suffering oppressed businessmen to the lamestream media via flack Tony Manolatos this afternoon.
Neighborhood Marketing Association is the group the local righties use when their planned campaign is too nasty even for the Lincoln Club.
This argument that San Diego won’t be competitive with other areas if the minimum wage is raised is pure bunkum. Sure Carl’s Junior is going to close all its San Diego places and move them to San Juan Capistrano doubling the number of Carl’s Juniors there. And the big hotels are going to close their doors leaving their hotels vacant while they build more hotels elsewhere where the minimum wage is lower. This is so much BS.
Give me a break. How dumb do they think the average citizen is? There’s not going to be any businesses moving elsewhere if the minimum wage is raised because the kinds of businesses that employ minimum wage workers are not in competition with similar businesses elsewhere.
John, to be fair, a few will. Right now the Chamber is using the number of 14% are thinking of moving. When all is said and done, a few will. (And I expect the Chamber to try to reverse this through initiative. I am not sure if the Mayor will veto either, but I think the Council can override the veto if this goes the same way it did last night)
But there are literally reams of data that say this is good for the economy short to medium term. Indexing to CPI makes it longer term.
If 14% of Chamber businesses don’t want to pay the new minimum wage then they can take a hike. Others businesses that do will open up.
“San Diego was ranked the least expensive big city in the state in which to do business, it was announced today…San Diego County’s average business license tax rates were 60 percent lower than the state average, according to the survey.” This was from a KPBS article in 2012. I’m not expecting a mass business exodus.
If it reaches 14% I will be surprised. I mean that. The cost of moving a business is much higher than the pennies of increase in cost.