In November, San Jose voters will decide whether the city’s minimum wage should increase to $10 per hour, as the city council decided Tuesday night to defer to the public.
The issue came before the council after students at San Jose State ran their own petition drive that gathered enough signatures to qualify a measure. That gave the city council the option of either enacting the measure outright or deferring to voters on the November ballot. Should the council had approved the measure that night, the minimum wage would have increased from the state level of $8 per hour to $10 per hour, plus annual adjustments for inflation.
It’s based upon the model in San Francisco, where the minimum wage recently increased by 32 cents to $10.32 per hour.
At the end of two hours of public comment, the council was presented with two options. The first would have immediately approved the new wage – but was defeated 8-3. The other deferred the question to a November ballot, and it was approved unanimously.
From the Mercury News:
Despite pressure by low-income workers and their supporters to adopt a $10 minimum wage ordinance, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday night agreed to let voters decide the thorny issue in the fall, giving residents and business owners more time to weigh in.
Mayor Chuck Reed said the proposed ordinance needs a full airing before it goes on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Read the full article here.