San Jose Voters to Decide on Minimum Wage Ordinance

Instead of holding their own vote on a minimum wage ordinance, the San Jose City Council has decided to let voters have the final say.

“It should not be 11 people making this decision.  It should be the voters of San Jose,” said Councilwoman Nancy Pyle.

By putting the issue on the November 6th ballot, residents and business owners will have more time to learn about the proposal and share their thoughts on it.

So, what is the issue all about?

If passed, the measure would raise the hourly minimum wage for workers inside the San Jose city limits to $10. That’s $2 higher than it is right now under California’s state requirement.  The proposal also calls for annual increases to make up for inflation.

If it passes, San Jose would not be the first California city to establish its own minimum wage rate.  San Francisco passed a similar city ordinance back in 2003.  As a result, minimum wage workers there make $10.24 per hour.  Thanks to the annual inflation adjustment, San Francisco’s minimum wage workers got a $0.32 pay raise at the beginning of 2012.

The current proposal got its start in a Sociology class at San Jose State University.  In fact, students originally intended for the proposal to go on the November ballot, instead of being adopted right away.  Last month, students in Professor Scott Myers-Lipton collected enough signatures to make sure the proposal would be included on the ballot.

“I have great respect for you,” Councilwoman Rose Herrera told those who had worked on the initiative.  “I think it has a lot of dimensions — there’s a moral issue and an economic issue, and I think it’s an issue we need to grapple with,” she said.

“But I believe very much in process and many of the issues I have heard up here have come down to, “Are we following the correct process for moving something forward?”’

Other supporters of the proposal haven’t been so patient, though.  Low-income workers and their supporters have been pushing for the issue to be passed immediately.   Many of them sat inside the packed council meeting with placards that said “Time for $10”.

“I work with the immigrant community and I see a lot of our community working two jobs — and still they cannot afford to support their families,” Lucila Ortiz told the council.  “It’s time for San Jose to dignify and pay their hard workers the right amount.”

Supporters are afraid that by not passing the measure now, it will fall victim to misinformation and distortion.  They even point out that city could save money by passing it now — since, they say, putting it on the ballot will cost $824,000.

On the other side of the issue are business owners, who say they simply can’t afford to pay their minimum wage workers more.

Jan Schneider, longtime owner of R&J Jewelry and Loan in downtown San Jose, said business owners like her are “barely hanging on.”  As a result, she said that the proposal would actually reduce the number of jobs around the city — because increased wage rates would lead to layoffs, business closures, and even businesses relocating to other cities.

Schneider argued that it was the Council’s duty to put the issue on the ballot, instead of deciding all by themselves.

“Let the initiative process work as intended,” she said.  “We cannot finance the economic and educations systems on the backs of businesses.”

Some city officials say they are also worried that the rate increase will put too much of a strain on businesses.  Plus, it will cost the city an extra $650,000 each year just to enforce the ordinance.