Los Angeles is becoming the third major American city to raise its minimum wage to
$15 an hour, with the city council approving the increase by a 14 to one vote. Seattle and San Francisco have already passed increases that will raise the wage to $15 over time, but:
The impact is likely to be particularly strong in Los Angeles, where, according to some estimates, more than 40 percent of the city’s work force earns less than $15 an hour. [...]
Tuesday’s vote could set off a wave of minimum wage increases across Southern California, and the groups pressing for the increases say the new pay scales would change the way of life for the region’s vast low-wage work force.
Indeed, much of the debate here has centered on the potential regional impact. Many of the low-wage workers who form the backbone of Southern California’s economy live in the suburban cities of Los Angeles. Proponents of the wage increase say they expect that several nearby cities, including Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Pasadena, would follow Los Angeles’ lead and pass ordinances for higher wages in the coming months.
The minimum wage will
go up slowly in Los Angeles, not hitting $15 until 2020 for larger businesses, with businesses employing 25 or fewer people having until 2021 to reach $15. It's ridiculously slow, but it's something to build on.
Slow or not, the fact that the second-largest city in the U.S. is moving toward $15 an hour is another sign of the power of worker organizing. And $15 an hour is not a number that comes from politicians, it's a number that comes from worker organizing, from demands that were seen as outlandishly high when fast food workers first hit the streets in November 2012. But now it's becoming a reality, and Tuesday's city council vote in Los Angeles will help apply pressure to other city and state governments to raise their minimum wage targets.