Posted on 11/05/2003 4:56:08 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Advocates for the poor hope city voters' approval of a minimum wage well above the federal minimum marks a precedent that spreads beyond this liberal bastion. Sixty percent of San Francisco voters Tuesday endorsed a citywide $8.50-an-hour minimum wage affecting virtually all employers, not just those receiving municipal contracts. The passage of Proposition L makes San Francisco the nation's third city with its own wage threshold. "Starting with some of the progressive cities, I expect this movement to move to a wide range of communities across the country," said Paul Sonn, a lawyer with the Brennan School for Justice at New York University who helped draft the San Francisco initiative. The Santa Fe, N.M., city council this year set a local minimum wage of $8.50 for all businesses with at least 25 employees, although it is being challenged in court. Washington, D.C. guarantees its workers $1 an hour more than the federal minimum of $5.15. California, with an hourly minimum wage of $6.75, is one of a dozen states that exceed the federal minimum, which Congress last raised in 1997. Some cities can't follow San Francisco's lead because some states prohibit them from setting their own minimum wages. Louisiana's legislature passed such a law last year after voters in New Orleans approved a local wage minimum. San Francisco's new minimum wage takes effect in 90 days for large businesses, and will be phased in over two years for nonprofit organizations and firms with fewer than 10 employees. Supporters estimate that 22,000 San Francisco workers who currently earn below $8.50-an-hour will directly benefit, and that another 32,000 people who already get paid the new minimum also will see their wages increase as a result. The measure was opposed by the restaurant industry, which said it amounts to a job-killing raise for waiters who already earn tips. San Francisco voters also banned "aggressive solicitation" by panhandlers and approved a measure to increase oversight of the police department. In other ballot issues around the country Tuesday: - Maine rejected a $650 million gambling resort that opponents said would have damaged the state's outdoorsy image. Slot machines at racetracks were rejected in Colorado, while Indiana voters approved a riverboat casino in French Lick. - New York City voters overwhelmingly rejected a measure to abolish primaries and have nonpartisan elections for mayor and certain other city posts. Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg had bankrolled the campaign in support of the measure with at least $2 million of his own money. - Houston voters narrowly approved an expansion of its light rail system, but those in Tucson, Ariz., and Kansas City, Mo., rejected light-rail proposals. - Denver voters soundly rejected a measure requiring the city to implement stress-reduction measures, a proposal championed by a former Transcendental Meditation teacher but scoffed at by several council members.
You got it.
This would kick a lot of kids out of what work they have.
'Course, since when has that ever bothered the subversive socialists?
Sure, but how many of those workers will soon be out of work as a result of this latest assault on sanity? San Francisco is one of the few cities in California that is actually experiencing a net loss of population. Those with half a brain are leaving for places with a better sense of why its good to be "nice" to business.
Hmm... sounds like San Francisco is gonna have jobs start leaving because of this. I wonder what Santa Fe's job market will look like if the lawsuit fails and the wage increase happens.
But hey, the progressives struck a blow at global capitalism! WalMart will never come here now...LOL!
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