Wage hike takes another step forward in L.A.

REUTERS Opponents of minimum wage hikes say they place an undue burden on businesses and would force employers to lay off workers or move.

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council gave a second nod of approval Wednesday to a proposal to increase the minimum wage in the nation’s second-largest city to $15 an hour by 2020 from the current $9, but the measure must still come back for another vote, officials said.

The council voted 13-1 to approve the measure, a little more than two weeks after a preliminary 14-1 vote in favor of the ordinance.

But because the latest vote was not unanimous, the matter must come back for a final vote next Wednesday that will take place without public debate, said Ian Thompson, a spokesman for City Councilman Paul Krekorian. No amendments were anticipated, and the next vote will not need to be unanimous.

The measure would require businesses with more than 25 employees to gradually increase wages to meet a $15 hourly pay level by 2020, while smaller businesses would have an extra year to comply with each step in the wage escalation ladder.

The Los Angeles City Council’s sup- port of the measure is seen as a victory for labor and community groups that have successfully pushed for similar pay hikes in other major U.S. cities, including Seattle and San Francisco.

“Los Angeles is one of the most expensive cities in the nation,” City Councilman Curren Price said. “Wages for the lowest-paid workers are stagnant.”

With the federal minimum wage stagnant at $7.25 an hour since 2009, supporters of raising pay for the lowest-paid workers have expressed little hope for an increase from the Republican-controlled Congress.

Opponents of minimum wage hikes say they place an undue burden on businesses and would force employers to lay off workers or move.