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By Miriam Raftery
March 23, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Californians are set to vote in November on whether to raise our state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The Fair Wage Act of 2016 has qualified for the ballot, the Secretary of State’s office confirms.
If approved by voters, the measure would raise the minimum wage gradually over the next five years, starting at $11 an hour in 2017, then rising by $1 a year until reaching $15 an hour in 2021. After that, the minimum wage would be adjusted automatically to keep up with the cost of living each year.
California’s minimum wage is currently $10 an hour, which adds up to $21,000 a year for a full-time worker.
A Field Poll conducted last year found that 68 percent of registered voters in California said they would support the initiative.
The measure is supported by labor unions and by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, who says, “Millions of hardworking Californians struggle every day to provide for themselves and their families because their wages have not kept up with the high cost of living in our state. California leads the country on so many issues like the environment, civil rights and public health, so it’s only appropriate that we also lead on addressing income inequality.”
The Fair Wage Act initiative is opposed however by employer groups. Michael Saltsman, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, argues that major restaurants in San Francisco closed their doors after the city raised its minimum wage to 2015, citing the wage hike as a factor. He adds that in Imperial County, where the unemployment rate is 22 percent, even experienced workers are struggling to find work. Saltsman says, “$15 would be economic suicide for Imperial County.
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