Today, California Gov. Jerry Brown reached a deal to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. The deal makes the solidly Democrat state the first state implement a statewide $15 minimum wage.
Under California’s new law, the minimum wage would rise to $10.50 in 2017, $11 in 2018 and a dollar each year until 2022.
After signing a minimum wage increase in 2013, Brown “resisted multiple efforts to revisit the issue at the legislative level.” That is until labor unions qualified two $15 minimum wage initiatives for the November ballot. Reportedly, Brown capitulated after statewide polls suggesting voters would approve a $15 minimum wage proposal if given the opportunity.
Advocates view California’s move as an opportunity to demand a national $15 minimum wage. Already, labor unions in Washington State are pushing an initiative to raise the minimum wage.
As Shift reported, unions are collecting signatures for Initiative 1433, a job-killing plan that would raise the statewide minimum wage to $13.50 per hour and require employers to provide up to seven days of paid sick leave per year. The initiative needs more than 250,000 valid signatures needed by July to qualify for the ballot.
It’s unknown whether or not the agreement in California contains an exemption for labor unions. Typically, labor unions do demand exemptions from the minimum wage laws they push on businesses. That, at least, was what happened in both Seattle and Los Angeles.
Because labor hypocrisy is fine, if you’re a liberal.
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