By a vote of 5 – 2 last night, the Sunnyvale City Council chose to join Mountain View in setting the new regional minimum wage standard for the Bay Area – a minimum of $15 per hour by 2018 for all workers. “I’m a free market guy, the government should only step in when the free market is failing… its clear the free market is failing here… income inequality is the worst its ever been and its growing,” said Mayor Jim Griffith. Joining Mayor Griffith in supporting the new minimum wage standard were Vice Mayor Tara Martin-Milius and Councilmembers Jim Davis, Pat Meyering, and Gustav Larsson. The vote directs Sunnyvale City Staff to prepare an amendment to the City’s current minimum wage ordnance to go into effect in July of 2016 and to match Mountain View’s wage schedule by January 2017. The wage will reach $15 per hour by January 1st of 2018 and the wage will be tied to the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Consumer Price Index every following January.
Sunnyvale’s decision to raise the wage and join Mountain View in the new minimum wage standard puts pressure on other regional cities to raise their wages to keep up. The City of San Jose was once the leader of the local minimum wage; however, the City has fallen behind as other Cities in the region have raised their own wages. Mayor Griffith expressed his disappointment of San Jose’s proposed study of a regional minimum wage, led by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, “I’m not real keen on what San Jose is doing, here we are trying to find a way to raise wages and San Jose comes with this study, its clear to me what San Jose was proposing – let’s find all the different ways to try and not raise the minimum wage for as many people as we can – I just disagree with that on so many levels.” Mayor Griffith went on to say that disadvantaged workers deserve the same wage rights as everyone else. Several other cities in Santa Clara County have already raised their minimum wage this year and are considering joining Mountain View and Sunnyvale in a commitment of $15 per hour by 2018.
Sunnyvale’s vote adds to the growing list of wins for Silicon Valley Rising, a campaign launched by the South Bay Labor Council and Working Partnerships, USA to improve the lives of South Bay working families.
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