This article reports that teh City Council in LA approved a plan to increase the minimum there to $15 / hour. We will be talking about minimum wage next week. Here are three questions.
- How effective is an increase in the minimum wage at fighting poverty? "The council's decision is part of a broader national effort to alleviate poverty, said Maria Elena Durazo, former head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor."
- How much would an increase affect employment opportunities for low-wage workers? "'The very people [council members'] rhetoric claims to help with this action, it's going to hurt,' said Ruben Gonzalez, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce's senior vice president for public policy and political affairs. He predicted that many businesses would absorb their new labor costs by laying off employees, reducing work hours or moving out of the city entirely."
- Why are unions the big supporters of the plan? "The vote was the latest show of organized labor's clout at City Hall. During nearly a year of often emotional debate, labor leaders never gave ground on their central demand that the minimum wage rise to at least $15." The article mentioned support from Maria Elena Durazo, former head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, now with Unite Here, the hotel and restaurant workers' union.
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