Berkeley Mayor's Proposal For Regional Minimum Wage Hike Gains Traction
BERKELEY (KCBS)— A plan by Berkeley's Mayor to establish a regional minimum wage is gaining support in the East Bay. Mayor Tom Bates' proposal would raise the wage slower than another initiative on Oakland's November ballot.
Bates plan would see the minimum wage go to $12.82 an hour by 2017.
"The idea is rather than have each city in the East Bay come up with a different proposal, a different idea of what minimum wage should be, that we should all try to stay together. We should all try to figure out a way in which we have one minimum wage that covers all the cities in the East Bay," Bates said.
Berkeley Mayor's Proposal For Regional Minimum Wage Hike Gains Traction
The plan on Oakland's ballot would see the minimum wage increase by more than a third by 2015.
Restaurant owner, Michael LeBlanc, who owns Pican in Oakland's Uptown district, said that would be a 50 percent wage hike for him.
"$8 to $12. That's a 50 percent increase. You don't have to be a mathematical genius to know that a 50 percent increase in a particular short period of time can have a significant impact," he said.
The East Bay mayors are lining up to support Bates' plan, but first must get support from their respective city councils.
