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AP ImagesLOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles City Council gave initial approval Tuesday to raising minimum pay in the nation’s second-largest city to $15 an hour by 2020 — a closely watched step, as Americans’ wages have stagnated.
The council voted 14-1 after residents made impassioned statements both for and against the plan.
“Today, help is on the way for the 1 million Angelenos who live in poverty,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti in a statement, adding that “the minimum wage should not be a poverty wage in Los Angeles.”
The vote sends the measure to the city attorney to prepare a wage ordinance. That ordinance will then go to a council committee and, assuming it passes, to the full council for a final vote and then to Garcetti.
The incremental increases would begin with a wage of $10.50 in July 2016, followed by annual increases to $12, $13.25, $14.25 and then $15. Small businesses and nonprofits would be a year behind; businesses with 25 or fewer employees would have an additional year to reach the $15 plateau.
Council members noted that Los Angeles has 700,000 people earning minimum wage and some of the highest housing costs in the nation. Current California minimum wage is $9.
“The elephant in the room is the lack of affordable housing,” said Councilman Mitch O’Farrell before the vote.
In April, Seattle began phasing in its new $15 minimum-wage law. Most workers in Seattle saw the minimum wage increase to $11 an hour. Some small businesses got a $1 credit for employees who earn tips or get health insurance, and they now pay $10 an hour.
It will take until 2017 for Seattle workers at large companies and chains to earn $15 an hour. Those providing health insurance will have four years to comply. Smaller organizations will be given seven years, with the new wage including a consideration for tips and health-care costs over the first five years.
