Hoping to avoid a costly ballot fight, California lawmakers and labor unions on Saturday reportedly reached an agreement to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour gradually by 2023.
Governor Jerry Brown is expected to make a formal announcement on Monday, but a source close to the negotiations revealed the content of the deal to the Los Angeles Times two days ahead.
Activists should keep up the fight for the better bill. Frankly, $15 in 2023 is not much of a raise, compared to the massive reductions in wages and buying power that have been imposed over the past 5 decades.
We know damned well capital will not rest from efforts to undermine this modest move toward fairer wages (including reviving the “state preemption” of local rule that is mentioned in the article). The labor side should not be looking for compromises, but instead keep pushing the agenda.
Baby steps in the right direction, but this is merely treading water and letting current politicians off the hook 'til most will be out of state office. Looks good on their resume but what will it do for working people? What will $15/hr be worth in 2023 dollars?
by 2023!? seven years away! seems more like grandstanding than anything, but I am sufficiently jaded–and for good reason.
“The new agreement will not override local efforts to boost wages at a more rapid pace.”
I should hope not.
Are you kidding me? By 2023 it should be $30/hr. We have seen the skyward rise in our power bill since the deregulation, price of gasoline, groceries, clothing, shoes, tires, engine oil, batteries, rents, etc…you name it gone through the roof except our wages or benefits, they are in reverse gear. Fifteen dollar minimum wage by 2023 is a disgrace, shame on our governor and state legislatures for such a pathetic proposal.
This will not work in States controlled by Republican legislature. Republican state legislatures are threatening local politicians by withholding state funds if locals try to raise the minimum wage or help working class taxpayers. The republican legislature and the US chamber of commerce are leading the threats against helping working americans get a raise or any paid time off.
Yea! Now the lower rungs of the economic totem pole/ pyramid will be able to better pay their student loand, car loans, jacked up rents, extortion insurance rates, etc. A big win for …wait a minute who prospers here?
Much truth in what you write, but also, they can only back our asses up against the wall so far. They keep pushing, keep taking, eventually there are unpredictable push-backs.
Get rid of the minimum wage. Get rid of old age security , welfare payments and unemployment insurance.
Replace this with a GNI of not less than 2500 per month which is adjusted for true inflation. There shall be no restrictions on said income be it a drug user , an ex-con, or a person who does not go to church on Sunday.
Sit back and see what wages these businesses offer.
Something suggests it would rise and businesses would still profit. Wealth inequality and Capitalism is driven by plundering the desperate working poor.
The poor are in fact subsidizing the rich.
One of the best posts I’ve ever read. Why is it so hard for people (Americans) to realize we can have this? Instead, we’ve lost what the labor movement fought and died for back in the days of Eugene Debs, et al, instead of building on those gains and arriving at a guaranteed income, as you’ve suggested, and so much more.
I have a friend who’s quality of life would improve infinitely with GNI, single payer healthcare, etc. She lost her home due to health problems, is legally blind, but refuses to sign up for medicaid and social security because she refuses to accept “welfare.” I tell her she earned those benefits by working her whole life, but she gets irrationally angry whenever I bring it up. Her heroes are Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill.
Instead, she keeps trying to pull herself up by her bootstraps, or whatever that cliche is that capitalists use to turn their crimes back onto their victims. The brainwashing in this county is so powerful.
And the gist of the supposedly “centrist” and / or “progressive” Clinton campaign is: “No, We Can’t!”
That’s right. And millions are lapping it up. Hard to comprehend. How do we break out of that train of thought? I watched Where to Invade Next this weekend, and felt sick to my stomach when I see what Europeans have, who were inspired by the labor movement in the US, and what so many Americans need. 50,000,000 people below the poverty line and many hungry, including millions of children, and tens of thousands dying every year due to lack of healthcare, and the majority of bankruptcies and foreclosures due to medical bills. It’s a real life nightmare.
You know, I get that we … would like to make the money we are due for the effort we put out, that produces… stuff and services… however, one must come to realize… that everything we produce, even service, also produces CO2… there fore, money =CO2 … so, I would like for everyone to just stop and think about …how they are making that money and what they are using it for… Now, do not get me wrong. It is very true that the stinking rich, produce more CO2 than we here on the lower rungs could produce… but, we do have some responsibility as a group … to consider this issue… so, if we are making our 15 dollars an hour, producing some frivolous “thing” or service… maybe we should reconsider WHAT IT IS WE ARE ACTUALLY DOING FOR WORK… then, with more and more people … realizing what it is I am saying, we may be able to really make some serious changes… I mean, how to hell are we going to slow CO2 emissions if we just keep keepin’ on?.. Do we really think that we can make that switch over to renewables in time? NOPE… SORRY … WE LOST THAT CHANCE A LONG TIME AGO… WHY … 500 nuclear power plants all over the world… and as the instability goes … or …as there is NO STABILITY IN GOVERNMENTS … ECONOMIES … OR CLIMATE… HOW TO HELL WILL WE KEEP 500 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS STABLE… it will only take a couple more … and we are done.
It has been tried and tested in Seattle-Tacoma, thanks to Socialist Alternative City Council Member Kshama Sawant’s initiative. After the trial period and after the CRYING CASSANDRAS about what a job-killer this would be, that Marxist rag put out by the Chamber of Commerce studied the results to local economy. Search online under: PUGET BUSINESS JOURNAL Oct 23, 2015 APOCALYPSE NOT: $15 AND THE CUTS THAT NEVER CAME by Jeanine Stewart
Capitalism needs to boost DEMAND SIDE. SUPPLY SIDE was a hoax, check Kansas and their SUPPLY SIDE Governor Brownback’s lab experiment to refute the last 35 years of bi-partisan e-con outcomes. Laughable Laffer Curve anybody? Etsy has a good deal on used Laffer Curves Signed by Ted Koppel!
By 2023?! That ain’t $15.00 NOW! FED’s QUANTITATIVE EASING got banksters our dough pronto. None of it circulated from Wall St to Main St. Check small business lending by national banks. This is what the WORKING HUMANS GET? Forget about a NEWER NEW DEAL! DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM AGREES WITH MILTON FRIEDMAN. 45 years of stag-flation wages and all wealth being hoovered up to top 1/10th of 1% NOBEL E-CON-O-MIST MILTIE SEZ HELICOPTER $$$$ VIA MINIMUM INCOME TO ALL TO SAVE NEO-LIBERAL CHICAGO SCHOOL CAPITALISM!
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