Los Angeles votes to increase minimum wage to $15/hour
Los Angeles: The Los Angeles City Council voted on Tuesday to increase the minimum wage in the nation is secondlargest city to $15 an hour by 2020 from the current $9,in a victory for labour and community group that have pushed for similar pay hikes in several US municipalities
the Council 14-1 vote on the panel for final approval, would require business with more than 25 employee to meet the 15 pay level by 2020,while smaller businesses would have extra year to comply
OFFICIAL said the plan, which comes on the heels of similar minimum wage hikes in other major cities including pay of an estimated 800,000 workers in the city
We are embarking upon, I think, the most progressive minimum wage policy anywhere in the contry City Councilman Curren Price Jr, one of the city
With the federal minimum wage stagnant at $7.25 an hour since 2009,labour and religious groups have increasingly pressed local governments in liberal leaning areas to enact their hopes dim for an increase from the Republican-controlled US Congress
The proposal given preliminary approval in los angels where housing costs are among the highest in the nation, represent a far- reaches $15 in 2020
Companies with 25 or fewer workers would follow a slightly shower stepped -up increase in minimum wage pay
Opponent of minimum wage hikes,such as los angeles area Chamber of Commerce senior vice president of public policy Ruben on business, and would force employers to lay off workers or move.
There is simply not enough room, enough margin in these business to absorb a50- plus percent increase in labor costs over a short period of time, he told the city council
Major Eric Garcetti, who last year proposed a pay increase that would have brought the minimum wage to $13.25 by 2017,said in a statement that he planned to sign the council 's measure.
Other cities have also moved to increase their minimum wages in phases
Seattle is phases in a pay hike that would bring the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next two to six years, depending on the size of the business
Voters in San Francisco have approved raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018
,The San Franeiso Bay Area city of Emeryville has given preliminary approval to gradually increase its minimum wage io $16 an hour by 2019 in what would be the nation 's highest such minimum pay
Chicago city leader last years approved raising its minimum wage to $13 by 2019,and New York Major Bill de Blassio has called for raising the minimum wage in his city to about $15 by 2019.REUTERS