raise the wage silicon valley
TRANSCRIPT
Working Regionally to Raise the Minimum Wage
If Not Here, then Where? The Raise the Wage Movement
in Silicon Valley
Gail Nyhan & Dr. Meghan Fraley
The Humanist Community July 19th, 2015
The Raise the Wage Coalition
We are a growing coalition of faith, labor, community and non-profit organizations.
Campus Alliance for Economic Justice (Cafe J) Fools Mission Mountain View Day Workers Center Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice (MVPJ) OUR Walmart Peninsula Peace and Justice Center Peninsula Young Democrats Politically Inspired Action Santa Clara Green Party SEIU-521 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – Peninsula Branch Working Partnerships USA
Overview: Raising the Minimum Wage in the South Bay and Peninsula ① Minimum wage data and research ② Successes so far
③ Current status of campaign across the region ④ Moving forward together: Working regionally, and
acting locally
What if the Minimum Wage had Kept Pace? The minimum wage should have reached $21.72 an hour in 2012 if it kept up with increases in worker productivity
-March 2012 Study by Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Reference: The Minimum Wage is Too Damn Low, John Schmitt, Center for Economic and Policy Research http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage1-2012-03.pdf
In Santa Clara County, what would our minimum wage be if it had kept pace?
Low Wage Workers are Older than You Think
• The average age is 35 years old
• 88% are at least 20 years old
• 35.5 percent are at least 40 years old
Reference: Economic Policy Institute http://www.epi.org/publication/wage-workers-older-88-percent-workers-benefit/
Source: NELP Analysis of Current Population Survey (2009-2011).
Low-wage employers are large.
Share of workforce that is low-wage, by firm size
Small Businesses on Higher Wages
• 3 out of 5 small business owners support increasing the minimum wage.
• 85% of small business owners already pay all of their employees more than the minimum wage.
• “It will level the playing field for big corporations vs. the little guy.”
• –Jay Porter
• “We hired entry-level people at near minimum wage in the past, and learned this resulted in their personal financial problems impacting the quality of the work they produced,” higher wages led to ““good retention rates, a good product and happier customers.”
• -Carmen Ortiz Larsen
• “people with less stress are happier and work more productively… the minimum wage right now is too much of a burden on these workers.”
• -Scott Nash -U.S. Department of Labor
Source: NELP, Big Business, Corporate Profits, and the Minimum Wage, July 2012
Low-wage employers are profitable.
In 2012, among the 50 largest low-wage employers:
• 92% were profitable in the previous year
• 78% were profitable for the previous 3 years • 63% are earning higher profits now than before
the recession
Low wage work is growing
Employment and a Raise?
After San Jose raised its minimum wage, “the pace of employment gains in the San Jose area beat the improvement in the entire state of California.” [Wall Street Journal, 4/9/14]
• US Dept of Labor reviewed 64 studies and found no discernable impact on employment
California Minimum Wage to be $10 in January 2016 • Current Minimum
Wage • Current minimum wage is
$9 an hour • Will rise to $10 an hour in
January 2016.
• Senate Bill 3 • Minimum wage would rise
to $13 per hour in 2017 and rise with inflation
• Passed the Senate and going to the Assembly
http://media.bizj.us/view/img/5536921/crb-report.pdf
Think Regionally, Act Locally
Why Here, Why Now
• Skyrocketing housing costs, displacement • Loss of diversity • Minimum wage staggeringly lower than living wage
Demand is Rising for Bay Area Wage Increase
Growing Number of Santa Clara County Cities Considering Increase
Cities Working Together Regionally
• Some models in consideration: • Replicating San Jose’s ordinance with a higher wage • Mountain View’s Draft Schedule of $15 by 2018
Why Here? Why Now? Poverty rates near record levels in Bay Area despite hot economy
Despite being a nationwide leader in job growth, the Bay Area suffers from a poverty rate that still hovers near historic highs, with more than 800,000 people in the region living below the poverty line.
City Minimum Wage Ordinances
• US Conference of Mayors’ endorsed higher city minimum wages as key tools for fighting income inequality at the local level
Minimum Wage Increases around the Bay Oakland: $12.25 in January 2015
San Francisco: $12.25; July 2018- $15
Emeryville: $12.25/$14.44; July 2019- $16
MIT Living Wage Calculator: Santa Clara County, 2014
Annual Expenses & Income
î
The hourly rate a full time worker must earn to support their family
Typical Annual Salaries: Santa Clara County
Computer
94,000
Education
52,000
Living Wage for Single Adult
28,000
Food Prep
20,000
Minimum Wage Workers
18,000
Raising the Wage Silicon Valley
Movement toward a Raise around the
region
• Palo Alto • Cupertino • Los Altos • Campbell • Santa Clara • Gilroy
Mountain View &
Sunnyvale
• Modeled after San Jose • Goes to $10.30 in July, and working to adopt schedule to $15 by 2018 by this October
San Jose
• $10.30 and Indexed to CPI with annual increases
How to Reach $15 Regionally by 2018
Mountain View and Sunnyvale followed in San Jose’s successful footsteps
and adopted a matching ordinance with $10.30 wage
indexed to CPI.
Mountain View and Sunnyvale are working to adapt this ordinance to include a schedule of
increases to reach $15 by 2018.
Reaching $15 by 2018
1. Replicate text of San Jose’s Ordinance
2. Adopt Mountain View’s Draft Schedule to $15 regionally
Regional Model
All workers in our community deserve a fair wage
A clear cut ordinance modeled after San Jose assures fair wages for all
San Jose will help enforce the ordinance regionally if crafted similarly
Following their model empowers us to act regionally
Mountain View as Regional Model for $15 by 2018
San Francisco’s Path to $15 by 2018 Full Text of Proposition J
Mountain View’s Draft Schedule Full Text of Mountain View Ordinance
Effective Date Minimum Wage Rate
7/1/15 $10.30
7/1/16 $12.00
7/1/17 $13.50
7/1/18 $15.00
July 1st Each Following Year CPI Increase
Thank you!