SIGNATURES TURNED IN FOR INITIATIVE TO OVERTURN MINIMUM WAGE

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Miriam Raftery

September 17, 2014 (San Diego)—Opponents of San Diego’s new minimum wage ordinance have gathered 56,000 signatures, more than the 34,000 needed to qualify the measure for the June 2016 ballot. The Registrar is currently working to verify the signatures. If it qualifies, the wage increase will be put on hold until voters weigh in.

San Diego Chamber of Commerce CEO and former Mayor Jerry Sanders led the coalition to put the measure on the ballot.  “San Diego voters have spoken they want the 44% wage increase placed on the ballot: in spite of unprecedented opposition from union bosses, we're proud to announce the small business coalition has turned in over 56,000 signatures," he said, KUSI reports.

Sanders claims petition gathers were harassed.

But supporters of the minimum wage have previously caught petition gatherers on video lying to deceive voters into believing the initiative would raise the minimum wage, not block a minimum wage hike already approved by the City Council.

Councilman Todd Gloria, author of the minimum wage increase, released a statement that said:"Considering the expense and deceit that big business poured into this campaign, I am not surprised that this many signatures were collected” While the registrar works to verify signatures on 12 boxes full of petitions in the next 30 days,, Gloria says supporters of the minimu wage are “going over 2,000 forms sent in by those who signed a petition, and now want their names removed." 

If there is an election it will not be until June of 2016. The wage hikes that were to begin in January will be put on hold until after the election.

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.