Sunnyvale City Council members forged ahead with a bold policy to raise the minimum wage in their city to more than $10 an hour, a 2-dollar jump in the current minimum.
Council members voted 6 to 1 last night to create a city ordinance which raises the minimum wage and ties it to the consumer price index, so it could potentially increase every year with the cost of living. Vice Mayor Jim Davis said his goal with this ordinance was to “mirror” San Jose’s minimum wage policy, which was passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2012. The South Bay Labor Council ran the successful campaign for Measure D, raising the minimum wage from the state-mandated $8 to $10 an hour with automatic increases based on the CPI. San Jose’s minimum wage is currently $10.15 an hour.
“Whatever San Jose’s need was, ours is greater due to our higher cost of living,” Davis told the audience who hung on until the issue came up just before 11 o’clock last night. “This is something where we benefit as more jurisdictions do it.”
Several community organizations spoke in favor of the increase, including Sunnyvale Community Services, which serves thousands of residents in need. Working Partnerships USA, which also worked on the San Jose minimum wage campaign, also advocated for the Sunnyvale increase.
As with the San Jose campaign, the National Restaurant Association argued against including food servers who earn tips in the policy. But Mayor Jim Davis shut the argument down saying, “I worked in the restaurant industry, and I know that tips are not wages.”
Councilmember David Whittum was the lone dissenter in the vote saying he was against a minimum wage altogether.
City staff must now write the details of the policy, whereupon the Council will vote once more, with the law taking effect early in 2015.
Do you have a news tip you would like to share? Would you like to contribute to The Left Hook? Email us at LeftHookBlog@gmail.com
No Comments