Deal reached to boost California's minimum wage to $15 and avoid ballot box battle
Source: L A Times
Los Angeles Times | March 26, 2016 | 6:18 PM
Lawmakers in Sacramento have struck a deal with labor unions to raise Californias minimum wage, avoiding a costly campaign over an initiative on Novembers statewide ballot.
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Read more: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-minimum-wage-deal-20160326-story.html
MrsKirkley
(180 posts)Baobab
(4,667 posts)Right now we're negotiating a trade deal and it includes a lot of cross border trade in services, which means guest workers.
its entirely possible that the higher of the two countries minimum wage might apply (or maybe no minimum wage applies) the people coming and working would be highly skilled nurses, teachers, It workers, etc.
Raising our minimum wage now might be like waving a red flag in front of the WTO. In the past when El Salvador tried to do something similar, it resulted in some kind of back channel letter from WTO that prohibited them from raising it.
WTO might even get rid of our minimum wage entirely. As its a subsidy and we're a developed country and WTO dogma basically says that only LDCs should be allowed to maintain "non conforming measures" wage subsidies are seen as protectionism and one of the core parts of WTO dogma is that protectionism is bad.
I totally disagree with all this, i am just trying to illuminate people in this thread to the fact that the US is kind of an island in a sea of the rest of the world and our framing and our news is wildly different and certain things, all this being one of them are just not reported here at all ever. And that is the real world and the world we live in is fake.
hopemountain
(3,919 posts)specificity appreciated. as for now, why the skidders?
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)tomm2thumbs
(13,297 posts)we don't want to have an issue, now do we?
MADem
(135,425 posts)Here's her plan:
Raising the minimum wage and strengthening overtime rules. Hillary believes we are long overdue in raising the minimum wage. She has supported raising the federal minimum wage to $12, and believes that we should go further than the federal minimum through state and local efforts, and workers organizing and bargaining for higher wages, such as the Fight for 15 and recent efforts in Los Angeles and New York to raise their minimum wage to $15. She also supports the Obama administrations expansion of overtime rules to millions more workers.
Federal minimum--twelve bucks an hour, NOW.
CA goes from ten bucks to ten fifty under this scheme. Then a buck a year till they hit fifteen. Clinton wants twelve bucks now, and work forward to fifteen.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)has proposed would be phased in over a period of years. That is the way to minimize the possible negative effects on the business community.
Also by phasing the minimum wage in over a period of years, as both plans likely would, a $12 minimum wage is even less than people think due to the eroding effects of inflation.
Heck, she doesn't even support a $15 minimum wage CA statewide, only large cities like LA (per her plan).
MADem
(135,425 posts)All Roads, it would seem, eventually Lead To Rome.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)and her term lasts until 2025 then I suspect CA will get there first.
by the way: all roads lead to a $15 wage anyway. The question is how fast, and whether we get there faster than inflation.
MADem
(135,425 posts)get them close--if not there--in six years. Eight, tops.
So far, gas prices are keeping inflation low. I am not a Big Driver, but even I have more disposable income, not having to pay George Bush's UK prices for gasoline!
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Everyone has their own personal rate of inflation. If you buy only gas and consumer electronics you have seen quite a bit of deflation these past years. Otherwise, not so much.
And oil/gas prices are often cyclical, so we'll see an inflation spike if and when that turns around. Not sure that will be any time soon, mind you, Iran is coming online soon.
I'd like to see the minimum wage track the CPI. Then we can have real discussions about what the real minimum wage should be without this talk about inflation and unexpected inflation eroding our plans. "Giving Americans a raise" only means something in the context of purchasing power is what I mean.
MADem
(135,425 posts)After all, those goods aren't teleported to the shops.
My baseline item is CHEESE. Cheese got way more expensive under Bush, it's gone back down under Obama.
Prices in the grocery store seem to be doing pretty good. Hell, in MA, even the price of wine has dropped slightly!
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)(random, but that reminded of the Thank you for Smoking scene with the VT Senator refusing to apologize for his state's artery-clogging cheese)
In general, those are reasonable proxies for inflation I suppose.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Greek feta, Italian mozzarella (made from water buffalo milk, sometimes smoked, and imported), manchego from Spain...and English cheddars. So these are "travellin'" examples.
I won't turn my nose up at a decent Cabot from VT, or domestic cheeses from WI, either. These have experienced the same fluctuations in price, as well. Enough to be noticeable.
I've seen other products come down in price as well--not just dairy, but I do notice ice cream is down a bit, and holding. Once summer comes, it'll probably pop up a bit--but still not as much as in the Bush years.
Shit was pricey under Porgie. I'm glad he's gone.
greymouse
(872 posts)Hillary, who with Bill has raked in over $100 million since leaving the White House, does not fully support the $15 minimum wage for hard working people. ($100 million vs. $15 an hour!!!!!) She does not pay her interns a nickle.
Does anyone who plans to vote for her understand now why so many people plan to vote for Bernie??
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)How is Clinton going to get a 12$ minimum through the Republican Congress? If she's already starting at 12 it's going to get negotiated down.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)She wants $12 now - whenever now is (I think Congress has to approve) and then she want ' through state and local efforts, and workers organizing and bargaining for higher wages" NOT HER efforts ours. Clinton does realize that most states have been doing everything they can to gut or destroy unions doesn't she?
It would be swell if minimum wage was $15 NOW.
MADem
(135,425 posts)the same place.
It would be "swell" to just up the minimum to fifteen, but it won't happen. Cost of living in places like Mississippi or Alabama or Kentucky is much less than NY or LA or SF. There are enough states where steep pay rises "NOW" would cause a shock to the economy and not in a good way. And those legislators from those states just aren't going to vote to support it. It'll die in committee if a demand like that is made.
There's a reason why CA is doing it incrementally. It's an impossible "sell" otherwise.
The sad truth is this--you have to sneak up on the legislature, and force them to eat the elephant one bite at a time. Give 'em a good fork and knife, and maybe a little hot sauce and catsup, and they'll eventually have the meal.
Baobab
(4,667 posts)Des câbles récemment divulgués par WikiLeaks révèlent que : des usines Levis et Hanes ont combattu, avec lambassade des É.-U., laugmentation du salaire minimum en Haïti
MADem
(135,425 posts)There's no caucus or primary in Port-au-Prince, n'est pas?
That said, while wages in Haiti don't need to be fifteen bucks an hour, that same amount a day is what is needed to support a family of four, more or less. Different economies, different requirements.
I support living wages for people around the globe.
That said, those living wages, if they're cheaper than American wages, will still have the effect of pulling industry offshore. That's just the way business operates.
If you think they're ever going to start making Hanes or Fruit of the Loom underwear in USA without robot workers, you can dream on. Ain't happening.
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)See...Bernie is winning already!
He is changing how people think about the possibilities!
tomm2thumbs
(13,297 posts)A G A I N ! ! ! ! ! !
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)I think it is actually to keep people away from the polls. They balanced a huge turnout to vote for (or against this measure) and the fact it would result in a huge voter turnout in California in November.
So they passed it - we will see how far it goes.
beltanefauve
(1,784 posts)I think our turnout in CA will be big in the fall with or without a state minimum wage on the ballot. Barbara Boxer is retiring and we will most likely have a cannabis legalization initiative on the ballot as well.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)about their own power, should they choose to use ti.
blm
(113,101 posts).
TDale313
(7,820 posts)Won't be $15 an hour til 2022? 2023 for businesses under 25 employees? Well, I imagine many cities will go faster. Some already are moving that way. Even $15 an hour is not a living wage in the Bay Area.
Hydra
(14,459 posts)But the fact that they are doing it and calling it a $15 minimum wage increase will help the movement. IMO, once the momentum increases and the people blocking it get out of the way we could see it happen faster.
Keep in mind also that support is growing for a guaranteed minimum income. That would be a superior option and could replace the minimum wage need we currently have.
TDale313
(7,820 posts)Just- cost of living (particularly housing) in parts of this state is out of control. That's the real problem and not sure the answer.
Hydra
(14,459 posts)Where I live in Utah, food and housing prices have basically doubled. Low income housing is a joke- it's just a small bit lower than market. Meanwhile, minimum wage is still $7.25. It's not unusual for people to have 2 full time jobs and then side gigs on top of that.
It's a Libertarian wet dream and a nightmare in progress. They refused to do the expanded medicaid here, so one of my old co-workers is slowly dying. She's a single mom with 2 kids and they have to come first.
It drives me nuts when the smug people here on DU act like everything is fine, and if it's not, they aren't working hard enough. That used to be a Republican shtick.
TDale313
(7,820 posts)airplaneman
(1,240 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)but can hardly begrudge just getting it done. Yay!
CountAllVotes
(20,878 posts)*sigh*
Don't I wish someone would.
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)I feel for anyone looking for work. So many people out of a job and really wishing they could have one. Fingers crossed you find a job soon.
CountAllVotes
(20,878 posts)Hard to find anything at all when you have a medical problem.
Oh well ... it could be a lot worse and I must remind myself of this fact every day.
fun n serious
(4,451 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)According to a document obtained by The Times, the negotiated deal would boost California's statewide minimum wage from $10 an hour to $10.50 on Jan. 1, 2017, with a 50-cent increase in 2018 and then $1-per-year increases through 2022. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees would have an extra year to comply, delaying their workers receiving a $15 hourly wage until 2023.
Future statewide minimum wage increases would be linked to inflation, but a governor would have the power to temporarily block some of the initial increases in the event of an economic downturn.
This was a smart move by Governor Brown. This is the direction that we're going, anyway. The mandatory nature of it will pretty much keep pace with the economy. Of course, if there's a major upturn and the economy really gets cracking and there's a competition for workers, wages will rise even without government mandates. That said, this will give a measure of relief to low wage workers over time--especially in CA, where some things are quite expensive.
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)It keeps minimum wage from being $15 per hour until 2023...that is 7 years. What good will that do as prices keep increasing.
It was a move by the legislature to delay and stop the massive turn out of voters in California in November. They are terrified that people would vote it in to start right away instead of sometime in the future that might never come.
madville
(7,412 posts)so the corporations can have time to figure out how to automate all those minimum wage jobs before the deadline.
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)should be long enough. Me I refuse to use any of those automated stations at grocery stores or food outlets. Even at my medical center - I simply refuse.
Kip Humphrey
(4,753 posts)corbettkroehler
(1,898 posts)Remember that criticism of $15 by a certain presidential candidate?
Oh, by the way, Bernie can win California!
ForgoTheConsequence
(4,869 posts)She doesn't think us piss ants deserve 15 bucks an hour.
mike_c
(36,281 posts)$15 an hour in 2022 and for employees of small businesses not until 2023. By then, $15 an hour will likely be the poverty wage that $7.25 an hour is today.
People who work full time need a living wage TODAY, not five years from now. $15 and a union.
TeamPooka
(24,259 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)it is put on the November ballot every one of the working poor would be there to vote and the Democrats would have a huge victory.