Thread: California’s minimum wage rises to $9 an hour starting Tuesday

California’s minimum wage rises to $9 an hour starting Tuesday

By Vanessa Ochavillo
vochavillo@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jun. 30, 2014 - 9:53 pm
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jul. 1, 2014 - 7:52 am


At Krazy Mary’s Boutique in midtown Sacramento, owner Mary Kawano is already accommodating the state’s new minimum wage of $9 a hour, which goes into effect Tuesday.

To absorb the increased costs, she’s planning to improve employee performance, use stricter hiring guidelines and be more careful about ordering inventory. “I’ll just be a little more focused,” said Kawano, who’s been in business 14 years. Of her five employees, three will receive the state’s new hourly wage.

Krazy Mary’s is one of hundreds of employers statewide who will now be paying their minimum-wage employees $1 more an hour, under legislation signed into law last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. Under AB10, by state Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, the state’s baseline wage will increase again – to $10 in 2016.

California’s wage hike is part of a nationwide effort in some states and communities to raise the standard of living for entry-level workers.

San Francisco recently raised its hourly wage to $10.74. Seattle voted in a $15-a-hour minimum wage, effective next April.

“When consumers do not have money in their pockets, they cannot consume,” said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who recently introduced a bill to hike California’s minimum wage to $13 an hour in 2017. It died in committee last month. “Only when they have enough to spend does the demand for goods and services increase … (creating) a virtuous cycle upwards.”

A number of business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, have consistently opposed increasing the state’s minimum wage.

“Largely what minimum wage increases tend to do is make it more challenging for youth and unskilled people to find jobs,” said Roger Niello, president and CEO of the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. Entry-level jobs “that don’t require skills are the types of jobs that get people into the workforce,” he said.

Employers absorbing the new hourly wage can respond in several ways: increase prices for consumers, lay off workers or swallow the additional costs. In every instance, someone – consumer, employee or business owner – loses, Niello said.

Rather than mandating wage increases, he added, state legislatures should look to alternative regulations, such as flattening tax rates for small businesses.

As of June, 22 states and Washington, D.C., have a minimum hourly wage above the federal minimum of $7.25, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California’s new $9 a hour is on par with Oregon, Washington state and Washington, D.C., with the highest hourly minimum wages in the country.

The new wage increase could worsen the state’s unemployment rate, particularly among teens, said Michael Saltsman, research director of Employment Policies Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, which recently concluded that four of the five highest youth unemployment rates in the country are in California. According to the institute’s analysis of U.S. Census data, the Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Roseville metro region ranked as the ninth highest for unemployed teens.

Farms may switch to machines
At least one industry in California affected by the hourly wage hike says it plans to reduce its reliance on human labor.

Bryan Little, director of labor affairs at the California Farm Bureau Federation, said the state’s agricultural industry, which partly relies on minimum-wage workers, will consider switching to crops that are easier and cheaper to cultivate, as well as pursue the development of harvesting equipment and other machinery that can replace human labor where possible.

“We’ve already seen it happen,” he said, referring to more mechanized harvesting of strawberries, walnuts, tomatoes and almonds. “It’s not economically viable yet (for all crops), but there’s a lot of interest.”

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Call The Bee’s Vanessa Ochavillo, (916) 326-5510.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/30/652...age-rises.html

Chart: Eleven states will have breached a $9 minimum wage by 2018

BY NIRAJ CHOKSHI July 1 at 1:08 PM

(Note: Changes in New York and West Virginia go into effect Dec. 31, the rest begin on the first of the given month.)

California on Tuesday became the third state to mandate a minimum wage of at least $9, but several more plan to follow suit within the next four years.

Only Oregon and Washington have higher state minimum wages, at $9.10 and $9.32 respectively. California’s new $9 minimum wage went into effect Tuesday (as did a $9.50 minimum wage in D.C.). But by July 1, 2018, eight states will hike their minimum wages to at least California’s level, if not well beyond.

Eleven states in all have plans to raise their minimum wage between now and then, according to a list maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nine — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota (at least for large employers), New York and Vermont — will have wages above $9.

In all but three — Minnesota, Michigan and New York — the minimum wages will be above $10. One, Massachusetts, will have an $11 minimum wage.

In light of federal inaction on the issue over the past few years, several states have acted in recent months to enact higher minimum wages. Nine states have enacted increases this year alone. They are Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia (D.C. has, too). Many more — 34 states — have considered it, according to the NCSL.
The next states with plans to raise their minimum wage to at least $9 will do so Jan. 1. Massachusetts’ minimum will rise to $9, while the minimum wage in Connecticut and Vermont will rise to $9.15. Here’s a list of all the planned changes, according to NCSL.


(Note: The counts cited here are limited to states with explicit plans to hike their minimum wages. More states may breach the $9, $10, and $11 levels due to provisions that automatically adjust minimum wages according to various formulas.)

8/1/14

• Minnesota (small employers): $6.50
• Minnesota (large employers): $8

9/1/14

• Michigan: $8.15

12/31/14

• New York: $8.75
• West Virginia: $8

1/1/15

• Connecticut: $9.15
• Hawaii: $7.75
• Maryland: $8
• Massachusetts: $9
• Vermont: $9.15

6/1/15

• Delaware: $8.25

7/1/15

• D.C.: $10.50
• Maryland: $8.25

8/1/15

• Minnesota (small employers): $7.25
• Minnesota (large employers): $9

12/31/2015

• New York: $9
• West Virginia: $8.75

1/1/16

• California: $10
• Connecticut: $9.60
• Hawaii: $8.50
• Massachusetts: $10
• Michigan: $8.50
• Vermont: $9.60

7/1/16

• D.C.: $11.50
• Maryland: $8.75

8/1/16

• Minnesota (small employers): $7.75
• Minnesota (large employers): $9.50

1/1/17

• Connecticut: $10.10
• Hawaii: $9.25
• Massachusetts: $11
• Michigan: $8.90
• Vermont: $10

7/1/17

• Maryland: $9.25

1/1/18

• Hawaii: $10.10
• Michigan: $9.25
• Vermont: $10.50

7/1/18

• Maryland: $10.10

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/07/01/chart-eleven-states-will-have-breached-a-9-minimum-wage-by-2018/?tid=hpModule_ba0d4c2a-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z13

L.A. Unified agrees to pay low-wage workers $15 an hour


Bus Driver Sandra Lee, a union officer, speaks in support of a pact that will provide low-wage school workers $15 an hour in two years. Behind her are school board President Richard Vladovic and board member Monica Ratliff. (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

HOWARD BLUMEcontact the reporter

Some L.A. school district workers will see wages almost double over next two years.

Low-wage workers in the nation’s second-largest school system have won a minimum-wage pay increase to $15 an hour.

The contract agreement, approved unanimously Tuesday by the Board of Education, will nearly double the wages of some Los Angeles Unified School District workers after two years.

San Francisco leads the way with $15 minimum-wage ballot measure Lee Romney

The pact was one of several approved by the school board, leaving the teachers union as the only major labor group that has not yet come to terms. With the exception of the $15 hourly wage stipulation, most of the contracts followed a similar pattern: a pay increase of about 6.5% over three years, sometimes with a one-time bonus of about 2%.

Other notable elements in the contracts include a bonus for principals with strong performance evaluations, said L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy.
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The $15-an-hour deal affects workers with Local 99 of Service Employees International, which represents about 33,000 custodians, cafeteria workers, teaching assistants, bus drivers and security aides -- many of whom are also district parents. About half make less than $15,000 a year; more than half have been earning less than $15 an hour, according to the union. Many workers saw their hours reduced during the recent recession.

“This is a wonderful day,” said campus aide Andre Smith. “We’ve had a struggle for the past years, but today is the good day -- to finally have our voices heard.”

Smith has worked at Fremont High for 19 years and earns $15.12 an hour for a full-time position. The starting salary for her position is $12.11 an hour, said the union; many aides work part time.


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Because Smith is already making more than the minimum, his wage will rise 2% for the coming school year, 2% for the year that follows and 2.5% after that. The union had been demanding a 15% increase for its higher-wage workers.

“What we did was very historic," said bus driver Sandra Lee, a union vice president. "We’ve spearheaded what other districts and companies can do.”

The $15-an-hour movement has gained a foothold in some parts of the country, including in some contracts negotiated at Los Angeles International Airport. In contrast, the state minimum wage rose to $9 an hour Tuesday.

“All workers should be getting this minimum wage,” said Board of Education member Bennett Kayser. “It shouldn’t stop here at L.A. Unified.”

Deasy called the deal “philosophically easy, financially difficult.” He added: “We still have a lot of belt-tightening to do down the road to honor these agreements.”

The raise phases in over three years. As of Tuesday, the minimum rose to $11 an hour. The rate is $13 next year before hitting $15 on July 1, 2016.

The Local 99 pact has other notable elements. Aides who work with disabled students will get more paid hours. About 500 workers will take part in a trial of a new, more detailed evaluation system, which will include the employee’s input. And a short-term labor-management committee will meet over such issues as restoring jobs and hours and reducing the amount of contracting with outside, nonunion companies, said Courtni Pugh, executive director of Local 99.

Some low-wage district employees are not affected by this agreement, but could receive similar terms when their union finishes its negotiations.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...701-story.html