[...] during a second tech boom and facing the nation’s fastest-growing income gap, Proposition J on the November ballot would propel San Francisco to similar high ground, raising the minimum wage from $10.74 an hour to $15 by July 2018. The San Francisco measure and one on the ballot in Oakland to raise the minimum wage to $12.25 are seen as a spearhead in the nationwide push by labor to raise the pay of low-wage workers. “If we can raise the minimum wage in San Francisco and Oakland, and the whole Bay Area, we can help set a better standard for everyone,” said Alysabeth Alexander, vice president of politics for Service Employees International Union Local 1021, a Northern California chapter of the union that has been pushing for higher minimum wage laws across the country. “That’s 60,000 people who are going to be a little better off after this ballot measure passes than they are today,” said Jason Elliott, a senior adviser to Mayor Ed Lee who brought together business and labor leaders to agree on Prop. A UC Berkeley study in August projected that 142,000 workers — or 23 percent of San Franciscos workforce — would get a raise by the time the minimum wage hits $15 an hour in 2018 if voters approve Prop. J has no exception for workers like servers or bartenders, who in California are paid at least minimum wage but make most of their money from tips. Restaurant owners are concerned that their narrow profit margins — and viability — are going to be hurt by hiking compensation to already well-paid workers. Many lower-compensated dishwashers and other kitchen staff are already making more than minimum wage as the city’s restaurant industry is booming right along with tech and tourism. #SF #News #49ers
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 00:43:02 +0000
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