- Governor Brown, Legislative, and Labor Leaders Agree to $15 by 2022, 3 Paid Sick Days for All
Sacramento, CA – The Fight for $15 (#Fightfor15) national movement of millions of workers is positioned to achieve a historic victory for underpaid Californians, who will see their wages rise to $15 per hour by 2022 under an agreement announced by Governor Brown and Legislative leaders on March 28, 2016. The proposed legislation must still pass in the legislature.
“Fast food workers, early childhood educators, home care providers and other hard-working, underpaid Californians have made history and delivered hope to millions of families struggling to get by on wages too low to live on and without basic benefits such as sick days,” said Laphonza Butler, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California. “SEIU California’s 700,000 workers are proud to have fought alongside the Fight for $15 to show the world that when workers stand together, we can improve the lives of our families and create a fairer economy. California’s elected leaders have demonstrated the leadership the nation is looking for.”
“Californians need a raise,” said Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation. “The historic measure strikes a blow to income inequality and will help lift millions out of poverty. The California labor movement stands firmly with the Governor and legislative leadership to ensure that a $15 an hour minimum wage becomes reality. With this bill, yet again, California is on the leading edge of providing all working people with the rights and dignity they deserve.”
Butler joined Brown, Senate Pro Tempore Kevin De León, California Labor Federation President Kathryn Lybarger, and dozens of workers at a press conference today unveiling the historic agreement. Governor Brown and legislators will move forward legislation to raise the California minimum wage to $15 by 2022, and end an unfair exclusion of home care workers from a state guarantee of three paid sick days for all workers. Small businesses (25 or fewer employees) will have an additional year to implement the new wages.
The agreement in California is the latest and biggest victory for the Fight for $15 and underpaid workers who just three years ago launched their movement for higher pay and union rights in New York City. In California, local Fight for $15 movements have won key victories in Los Angeles, and San Francisco. When this agreement is signed into law by Governor Brown, California will be the first state in the nation to adopt this crucial standard for all workers.
“When workers in New York City started this movement in 2012, nobody gave them a shot and when we joined in in California a few months later, people said we had no chance. But today, millions of Californians secured life-changing raises that will lift our families out of poverty,” said Guadalupe Salazar, a McDonald’s worker in Oakland and member of the National Organizing Committee of the Fight for $15. “And more victories are on the way across the country. Our movement has unstoppable momentum. When workers join together and speak out, real change results.”
More than one in three California workers like Salazar will receive a raise under this policy, or nearly 6 million Californians. Combined with workers who are already on a path to $15 because workers fought to achieve $15 minimum wages in Los Angeles and San Francisco, more than 6.5 million workers will have won a path out of poverty with a $15 wage.
