Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made an agreement last Monday with
Democratic leaders of the legislature to raise the state minimum
wage almost 20 percent by January of 2008.
If the agreement is passed by the legislature, the state minimum
wage will increase from the current rate of $6.75 an hour to $7.50
by January 2007, and by January 2008 it would increase to $8.
The increase to $8 an hour would make California’s minimum
wage the highest in the nation.
The governor said the compromise is a “commonsense”
solution to help increase the wage for working residents without
hurting the economy.
Many students working on and off campus are likely to see pay
raises resulting from the minimum wage increase.
Justin Hopkins, a third-year political science student, has
worked jobs that paid both above and below minimum wage.
He said that when working for less than minimum wage, “it
would have been nice to make more.”
“It would be easier to make more money,” he
added.
Most Associated Students UCLA employees would receive a $0.75
increase by January 2007 and another $0.50 increase by January
2008, said Bob Williams, director of ASUCLA.
ASUCLA, which employs over 1,500 students currently pays its
employees at least $7.50 per hour, and said it was already planning
to increase wages.
The board had already planned a $1 increase by January 2008,
which means it will only have to budget for an additional $0.25
increase.
Williams said that within the context of ASUCLA, the minimum
wage increase would mostly affect student employees.
“There’s no non-student worker who is anywhere near
the minimum wage, so I don’t know whether the bill will
affect them at all,” Williams said.
The increase is seen as a positive by many students working for
minimum wage. But some of those working for a wage that is slightly
above the legal minimum are concerned they will not receive a
comparable increase.
“I would like to see an according pay raise up the
chain,” said Hector Operario, a supervisor at Kerckhoff
Coffee House at UCLA, who is paid more than minimum wage.
Hopkins also presented another concern with the increase to
minimum wage.
“If wages went up across the board it seems like prices
would go up, so I don’t know how much that would
help.”
Schwarzenegger agreed to increase California’s minimum
wage soon after Democratic senators decided to drop their demand
for annual increases so residents can keep up with inflation.
The governor vetoed two previous attempts to raise the minimum
wage. The current amount is higher than the federal rate of $5.15
an hour, but still is lower than several other states.
Discussions regarding the proposal have been in the works since
Thursday.