While the Long Beach City Council will still need to eventually vote on actual ordinance, city officials have now embraced a path to increasing the minimum wages to $15 by 2021.
It was a long discussion before Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal presented two motions and eventually won the support of most of the councilmembers on the dais on Jan. 19. The meeting itself lasted well past midnight since dozens of people on both sides of the issue spoke out during the public comments over the course of a few hours.
Lowenthal pointed to one particular woman who spoke that night about her own personal story of domestic violence and her constant struggle to support her family on low wages.
The vice mayor said that “economic independence can be so liberating…she reminds me that liberty, dignity and opportunity that…raising a minimum wage can provide is something that cannot be overlooked.”
Lowenthal’s two motions outlined an overall plan for the increase to take effect. Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, the minimum wage will increase to $10.50. By Jan. 1, 2018, the wage will increase to $12. By Jan. 1, 2019, that wage will increase to $13. There will also be a study done to review any possible “negative impacts to jobs and the local economy.” However, the path is already cleared to further increase the wages. If there are no major hurdles, the wages will increase to $14 starting on Jan. 1, 2020 and then finally to $15 by Jan. 21, 2021.
There is already a caveat built into the motions stating that small businesses with 25 workers or less and nonprofit organizations will be offered a one-year delay of the implementation of the increase. In 2023, the minimum wage will be set with the consumer price index for the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Just before the meeting last week, Jeremy Harris, senior vice president of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview that he had hoped for the council would consider the business community as they weighed their decision.
“They are the backbone of the local economy,” Harris said of the business owners, “and those are the folks that employ… many, many people here throughout Long Beach.”
A coalition called Raise the Wage released a statement just after the vote, highlighting the workers who are affected by the move to increase the minimum pay.
“Their stories are the inspiration for this movement toward economic justice,” the statement said, “and will continue to prevail, because no one can rationalize a family of hardworking people living in poverty.”
One of the motions also addresses internships. Under the motion, employers will be allowed to pay 85 percent of the minimum wage for 480 hours, or six months, whichever comes first for workers who don’t have previous work experience in a particular job.
In addition to the study on the impact to the local economy, the city staff will be looking at ways to assist the business community. Specifically, the city attorney’s office is expected to return to the City Council with a report on incentives for the business community.
The vote was not close— 6 to 2.
Councilmembers Lena Gonzalez, Lowenthal, Dee Andrews, Roberto Uranga, Al Austin and Rex Richardson voted in favor of the plan. Councilmembers Stacy Mungo and Daryl Supernaw voted against it.
Third District Councilmember Suzie Price was absent for the vote. Mungo announced earlier that evening that Price had to leave the council meeting because her husband had been hospitalized.
It is unknown when the completed ordinance will return before the city council.
