UFCW Western States Council Contact: Malcolm Maclachlan
For Immediate Release (916) 444-7614
August 28, 2015
Oakland, CA – James Araby, Executive Director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, released the following statement today after a bill to raise California’s minimum wage stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
“We stand in proud support of Senate Leader Kevin de León, Senator Mark Leno and Senator Connie Leyva, the principal coauthors of SB 3. Their courageous leadership has helped put the cause of raising working people’s wages on the agenda.
“Thanks to their work, this bill is still alive. We look forward to working with members of the Assembly who have pledged to revisit the issue, and to ultimately passing SB 3 next year.
“Research shows that raising the wage stimulates local economies by putting money in the hands of hard-working people who will spend it. Raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do for working people and our economy.”
SB 3 would increase California’s minimum wage to $13 an hour over the two years. It would also tie the state’s lowest wage to inflation in 2019 and beyond, leading to automatic increases in the future. The wage currently stands at $9 and hour, and will increase to $10 an hour on Jan. 1, 2016.
The bill stalled after the Senate authors were unable to agree on compromise language with the Assembly to add flexibility to SB 3’s language. SB 3 will still be eligible to move forward during the 2016 legislative session.
Results from the latest Field Poll released Thursday show that 68 percent of California voters support the idea of raising the minimum wage by $1 a year over the next five years—a larger increase than proposed by SB 3.
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