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AH&LA Media Monitoring - 6/10 Report
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LA City Council Expected To Give Final Vote On Minimum Wage Ordinance
Jun 10, 2015 | CBS Los Angeles
Members of the Los Angeles City Council are expected to make a final vote Wednesday on an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years. -
City Council expected to approve $15 minimum wage for L.A.
Jun 10, 2015 | My News LA
By Debbie Sklar
The Los Angeles City Council is expected to give final approval Wednesday to an ordinance raising the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $15 per hour by 2020 for hundreds of thousands of workers. -
500 in-home services workers rally to be part of minimum wage boost
Jun 9, 2015 | LA Times
By Jean Merl
Stepping up their push to be included in a potential boost in the minimum wage under consideration by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, about 500 in-home care workers rallied outside board headquarters on Tuesday. Wearing their cause's signature white, purple and gold T-shirts and arriving at the Hall of Administration via several large buses chartered by their union, the workers delivered boxes and boxes of signatures -- 50,000 in all, they said -- from residents sympathetic to their quest for an increase from the $9.65 an hour they earn now.
Public Hearing / Minimum Wage Coverage
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LA City Council Expected To Give Final Vote On Minimum Wage Ordinance
Jun 10, 2015 | CBS Los Angeles
Members of the Los Angeles City Council are expected to make a final vote Wednesday on an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years.
If the ordinance receives unanimous approval, wage increases will take place on the first of July each year.
Last week, council members voted 13-1 in favor of the ordinance. Officials said Councilman Mitchell Englander casted the dissenting vote.
Under the ordinance, the minimum wage will go from $9 per hour to $10.50 an hour beginning in 2016. The rate will then jump to $12 in 2017; $13.25 in 2018; $14.25 in 2019; and $15 by 2020.
Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees will have the increases moved back by one year, officials explained.
Once both large and small businesses reach $15, the wage will continue increasing in 2022 based on the cost of living.
Council members said they are still looking for more clarity as to what constitutes an employee in Los Angeles.
According to the ordinance, an employee is defined as someone who works at least two hours within city limits.
Officials said businesses located outside L.A. could potentially be required to pay higher wages to their employees for their work within the city.
City Council members are also still considering possible amendments to the ordinance, such as a requirement for employers to provide paid leave to workers.
According to city officials, Mayor Eric Garcetti will sign the ordinance once City Council members give their final approval.
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City Council expected to approve $15 minimum wage for L.A.
Jun 10, 2015 | My News LA
By Debbie Sklar
The Los Angeles City Council is expected to give final approval Wednesday to an ordinance raising the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $15 per hour by 2020 for hundreds of thousands of workers.
The council voted 13-1 last week to approve the wage hike ordinance, with Councilman Mitchell Englander casting the dissenting vote. Because the vote was not unanimous, the ordinance will return for a final vote today.
If given final approval and signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the city, with 3.8 million residents, would become the biggest in the country so far with a $15 minimum wage.
Garcetti is expected to sign the ordinance once it receives council approval.
“With this vote, the minimum wage will no longer be a poverty wage in Los Angeles,” he said last week. “I want to thank the City Council for joining me in building a city that provides greater opportunity and possibility for all of our residents.”
Under the ordinance, the city minimum wage would increase to $10.50 per hour in July 2016 for businesses with 26 or more employees, with a one-year delay for smaller businesses. By 2016, the state minimum wage will have risen to $10 per hour.
The wage would then go up to $12 an hour by July 2017, $13.25 per hour by July 2018, $14.25 per hour by July 2019 and ultimately to $15 by July 2020.
Businesses with 25 or fewer employees would start raising their wages one year later and have until 2021 to reach the $15-an-hour mark.
Once the wage reaches $15 per hour for both small and large employers, the ordinance calls for the minimum wage in 2022 to continue increasing based on the cost of living.
City officials are still considering possible amendments to the wage law, such as a proposed exemption from the $15 minimum wage for workers covered under collective bargaining agreements.
Labor leaders who led the campaign to raise the minimum wage are pushing for inclusion of the exemption from the wage for their own union members. They say they provision is a “standard” part of wage laws in many other cities, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and San Diego, and contend the provision is aimed at respecting existing collective bargaining agreements, as well as giving employers and workers wiggle room to reach the best labor agreement for both sides.
However, business leaders who had opposed the wage increase say the same people who wanted the minimum wage hike in Los Angeles now want to their own union members to be given a “sub-minimum” wage. They pointed to Seattle’s $15 minimum wage law, which does not have an exemption for unionized workers.
Members of the council are also looking for more clarity on what constitutes an employee in Los Angeles. The ordinance defines an employee as someone who works at least two hours within Los Angeles city limits, which means businesses located outside the city could potentially be paying the higher wages for hours their employees work within Los Angeles.
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500 in-home services workers rally to be part of minimum wage boost
Jun 9, 2015 | LA Times
By Jean Merl
Stepping up their push to be included in a potential boost in the minimum wage under consideration by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, about 500 in-home care workers rallied outside board headquarters on Tuesday.
Wearing their cause's signature white, purple and gold T-shirts and arriving at the Hall of Administration via several large buses chartered by their union, the workers delivered boxes and boxes of signatures -- 50,000 in all, they said -- from residents sympathetic to their quest for an increase from the $9.65 an hour they earn now.
The workers, who take care of infirm county residents in their homes -- cooking, shopping, administering medicines, baths and the like -- want to see their pay eventually boosted to $15 an hour. That would be roughly in line with what workers in unincorporated county areas would receive under a proposal that supervisors are expecting to vote on at their June 23 meeting.
But the in-home workers would not be included in a county ordinance because they are paid through a state program.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas has been pushing to add them, known formally as in-home supportive services workers. But last week, in an update on the county's fiscal picture, interim Chief Executive Sachi Hamai estimated that boosting such workers' pay to $15.25 an hour, which is above the state's reimbursement cap, would cost taxpayers an additional $374.1 million by fiscal year 2017-18.
A study cited by the union that represents the in-home workers found a pay increase would bring some $768.7 million more to the local economy by improving the workers' buying power and stimulating new jobs.
On Tuesday, Ridley-Thomas said through a spokeswoman he would offer a compromise aimed at improving the pay of the in-home workers while keeping the county's budget in mind.
"The current wage for home healthcare workers is below the poverty level. We must change that," Ridley-Thomas said.
He added he "will continue to push for an increase in their compensation that will put home care workers on a path to $15 an hour while also taking into account the fiscal responsibility and our obligation to balance our budget in Los Angeles County."
The workers have been pressing their case for months at the board's weekly meetings. This week they upped the volume by enlisting others in their cause. Among those speaking at the rally and news conference was Patricia Bellasalma, president of California NOW.
Several of the workers talked to reporters before heading inside to address the board after the rally.
Among them was Regina Sutton, 60, of Leimert Park. Sutton said she takes care of two clients, referred to as "consumers" by the workers. One is a woman in her 50s who has heart problems and needs help with day-to-day living tasks.
The other is an 82-year-old man who suffered a massive heart attack and is recuperating at home after months in a rehabilitation center. She is helping him re-learn to take food by mouth after weeks of using a feeding tube. Sutton helps both people with grocery shopping, bathing, bed-changing and light house-keeping as well as ensuring they get their medicines as prescribed.
"I love my work," Sutton said, adding she is fortunate in that she has her husband's earnings as a pastor to help them get by. But many of her co-workers cannot make ends meet on their pay alone.
Betty Gonzalez, 54, of Carson, takes care of her wheelchair-bound wife, Suzanne Carroll, 70, who suffers from diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and dementia. She also cares for Carroll's disabled sister, who lives with them.
Their need for 24-hour care doesn't leave her time to get another job. She said an increase to $15 an hour would enable her to stop borrowing money from her father and to ensure there is enough food in the house.
"Sometimes, I'm afraid to fall asleep," Gonzalez said.
Public Hearing / Minimum Wage Coverage
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