[Editor’s Note: Mr. Cherness is a longtime member and former president of the Culver City Democratic Club.]
Anyone who has been following the news knows that there is a nationwide movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour. The city of Seattle passed a phased in $15 minimum wage ordinance, effective last April. In New York, a specially convened state wage board called for a hike in the minimum wage to $15 per hour for fast food workers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is likely to approve this measure.
In California, San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley have approved minimum wage ordinances that ultimately will be phased in to $15 per hour. More recently, the Los Angeles City Council passed, and Mayor Garcetti signed an ordinance that phases in the city minimum wage
to $15 per hour, effective 2020. Finally, both the University of California and the County of Los Angeles have adopted $15 per hour minimum wage regulations.
What does all this mean for Culver City workers? Next year, the state minimum wage goes up to $10 per hour. That means that in 2015, a worker who works at a restaurant, coffee shop, or store in Culver City will be making $10 an hour, while workers in Los Angeles doing comparable work will be making $15 per hour.
Is it fair that a worker doing comparable work should earn significantly less in hourly wages based on the jurisdiction in which he/she works?
To me, this is a question of simple “economic justice.” Moreover, a $15 minimum wage in Culver City has the potential to move hundreds of people out of poverty and into a higher economic standard of living.
When workers make more money, they have more money to spend. More spending for goods and services means more revenue for business and, in turn, stimulates additional hiring.
If you agree with me that Culver City should establish a $15 an hour minimum wage, I ask that you take action now.
Email or call the members of the City Council in support of the minimum wage. Write to our local newspapers and let the editor know how you feel. Share your point of view with your friends, neighbors, and relatives. Write a post on Facebook.
Working together, we can bring economic justice to Culver City workers and ensure that they enjoy a decent standard of living to which all workers are entitled.
