By Gus Herrera
Early Tuesday morning, Feb. 2, the Pasadena City Council unanimously voted to move forward with a proposal to potentially increase the minimum wage to $15 by the year 2020. Early in the meeting, it became evident the council was doing their best to move through all the other items on the agenda as quickly as possible, knowing that there were 58 individuals waiting to speak their piece on the main event of the evening.
In fact, the council’s chambers were not large enough to hold everyone present, forcing many to be seated downstairs, watching the live feed of the meeting on television. There was a tangible sense of tension in the air as everyone, including Mayor Tornek, seemingly could not wait to get to the matter at hand. Just when everyone thought it was finally time, the tension in the room was extended when the council was forced to take a short recess in order to wait for the Spanish translator and equipment to arrive (there was a predominantly Hispanic crowd and several comments were delivered in Spanish). The public comments did not conclude until 10:38 p.m., after which the city council began its lengthy deliberation. Finally, past midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 2, the council decided to move forward with the wage increase framework proposed, after making a few changes to the original plan.
The proposal will incrementally raise the City of Pasadena’s minimum wage each year, potentially reaching $15 by 2020. After this, the wage will be adjusted by an amount equal to the change in the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County consumer price index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. But it is important to recognize that three years into this process, on Feb. 18, 2019, the city council will have to reconvene in order to assess the benefits and effects of the raised wage. At this time, in order for the wage increase to proceed towards $15 in 2020, the city council will have to reach a majority vote (five votes) yet again. The council assured that this pause in 2019 is meant to be a way to inform the public of the progress and make sure the proposal is achieving its intended effects, but it was clear from several of the public’s comments that they believe this pause to be a form of hesitation on the part of the council to commit to the wage increase.
The proposal will also provide several exemptions from the raised wage. Among these are deferrals for small businesses: those with less than 25 employees would be allowed a one-year delay in implementation of the wage raise and non-profits with less than 25 employees would be eligible for exemption, as long as they meet certain criteria. There will also be a Learners exemption, where employees, ages 14 to 17, during the first 160 hours of employment in a new career field would be excluded from the raised wage.
Many of the public comments focused on the enforcement of wages and the prevention of wage theft. They fear raising the wage without providing the proper means and structure to enforce it will leave the door open to many of the abuses they are trying to avoid. The City of Pasadena does not currently employ any staff dedicated to enforcing or investigating wage theft or violations. Furthermore, the city does not have any physical locations for workers to file complaints; the closest office is in downtown Los Angeles. Councilmember Tyron Hamtpon (District 1) made it clear that he would not be satisfied unless the council took action to create a position to enforce the wage increase. Councilmember Andy Wilson (District 7) furthered this notion when he said, “legislation without enforcement is not worth the piece of paper it is written on.” Therefore the council agreed to allow more time to sort out the details as to how they can properly achieve this, one of a couple alterations they made to the original framework.
In other news, the city council meeting also saw the appointment of Myra Martin Booker, Ph.D., to the Human Services Commission. Also, the Green Street Village became the first commercial landmark district in Pasadena to be designated by the city council and two more homes were designated as landmarks (2480 Oswego St. and 805 S. Madison Ave.).
For more information visit: http://ww2.cityofpasadena.net/councilagendas/council_agenda.asp.
