Emeryville, a small city in the San Francisco Bay Area, has given initial approval to the nation's highest minimum wage by setting baseline pay at $16 an hour in 2019, with gradual increases leading up to that level.
The 5-0 vote on Tuesday by the city council in Emeryville, a community of about 10,000 residents, follows moves by several major U.S. cities to sharply raise their minimum wages.
The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 since 2009. Labor and religious groups have despaired of wringing an increase from the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress and have instead pressed local governments in liberal-leaning areas to enact their own increases.
The Emeryville proposal faces a final approval vote on May 19. It would take effect on July 1, when the minimum wage would rise to $14.44 an hour for businesses with at least 55 workers and $12.25 for smaller companies, city documents show.
It would increase gradually every year until it reaches $16 for all businesses in 2019.
"Just as our workers are creative enough to make a living off of minimum wage and support their families, I think our businesses will be creative enough to make it work and we'll all lift up together," Emeryville City Councilwoman Dianne Martinez said at the meeting on Tuesday.
[For more of this story, written by Alex Dobuzinskis, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...ns-16_n_7227982.html]
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