| Wall Street Journal | - |
SACRAMENTO,
Calif.—California legislators and labor unions on Saturday reached an
agreement aims to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 from $10 an
hour, a state senator said, a move that would make for the highest
statewide minimum in the nation.
California Lawmakers, Unions Reach Deal to Lift Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour
Union leaders say they would continue pushing ahead with ballot measure
ENLARGE
Workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of a higher minimum wage in July 2015.
Photo:
Nick Ut/Associated Press
Sen. Mark Leno (D., San Francisco) said the proposal would go before the Legislature as part of his minimum-wage bill that stalled last year.
Mr. Leno didn’t confirm specifics of the agreement, but most proposals have the wage increasing about a dollar a year until it reaches $15 an hour.
At $10 an hour, California already has one of the highest minimum wages in the nation along with Massachusetts. Only Washington, D.C., at $10.50 an hour is higher. The hike to $15 would make it the highest statewide wage in the nation by far, though raises are in the works in other states.
The deal means the issue won’t have to go to the ballot, Mr. Leno said. One union-backed initiative has already qualified for the ballot, and a second, competing measure is also trying to qualify.
Union leaders, however, said they wouldn’t immediately dispense with planned ballot measures.
Sean Wherley, a spokesman for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, confirmed that his group was involved in the negotiations. But he said the group would continue pushing ahead with its initiative on the ballot.
“Ours is on the ballot. We want to be certain of what all this is,” Mr. Wherley said.
A spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown, Evan Westrup, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.