Information on Raising the Wage in Silicon Valley

1. Working Regionally
to Raise the
Minimum Wage If Not Here, then Where?
The Raise the Wage Movement
in Silicon Valley
Gail Nyhan & Dr. Meghan Fraley
The Humanist Community
July 19th, 2015

2. The Raise the Wage Coalition
We are a growing coalition of
faith, labor, community and non-
profit organizations.
Campus Alliance for Economic Justice (Cafe J)
Fools Mission
Mountain View Day Workers Center
Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice (MVPJ)
OUR Walmart
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
Peninsula Young Democrats
Politically Inspired Action
Santa Clara Green Party
SEIU-521
Women’s International League for Peace and
Freedom – Peninsula Branch
Working Partnerships USA

3. Overview: Raising the Minimum Wage in
the South Bay and Peninsula
① Minimum wage data and research
② Successes so far
③ Current status of campaign across the region
④ Moving forward together: Working regionally, and
acting locally

4. What if the Minimum Wage had Kept
Pace?
The minimum wage should
have reached $21.72 an
hour in 2012 if it kept up
with increases in worker
productivity
-March 2012 Study by Center
for Economic and Policy
Research.
Reference: The Minimum Wage is Too Damn Low, John Schmitt, Center for Economic and Policy Research
http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage1-2012-03.pdf
In Santa Clara County, what would our minimum wage be if it had kept pace?

5. Low Wage Workers are Older than You Think
• The average age is 35
years old
• 88% are at least 20
years old
• 35.5 percent are at least
40 years old
Reference: Economic Policy Institute
http://www.epi.org/publication/wage-workers-older-88-percent-workers-benefit/

6. Source: NELP Analysis of Current Population Survey (2009-2011).
Low-wage employers are large.
Share of workforce that is low-wage,
by firm size

7. Small Businesses on Higher Wages
• 3 out of 5 small business
owners support increasing
the minimum wage.
• 85% of small business
owners already pay all of
their employees more than
the minimum wage.
• “It will level the playing field for big
corporations vs. the little guy.”
• –Jay Porter
• “We hired entry-level people at near
minimum wage in the past, and learned
this resulted in their personal financial
problems impacting the quality of the
work they produced,” higher wages led
to ““good retention rates, a good product
and happier customers.”
• -Carmen Ortiz Larsen
• “people with less stress are happier and
work more productively… the minimum
wage right now is too much of a burden
on these workers.”
• -Scott Nash-U.S. Department of Labor

8. Source: NELP, Big Business, Corporate Profits, and the Minimum Wage, July
2012
Low-wage employers are profitable.
In 2012, among the 50 largest low-wage employers:
• 92% were profitable in the previous year
• 78% were profitable for the previous 3 years
• 63% are earning higher profits now than before
the recession

9. Low wage work is growing

10. Employment and a Raise?
After San Jose raised its minimum
wage, “the pace of employment
gains in the San Jose area beat
the improvement in the entire
state of California.” [Wall Street
Journal, 4/9/14]
• US Dept of Labor reviewed 64
studies and found no
discernable impact on
employment

11. California Minimum Wage to be $10 in
January 2016
• Current Minimum
Wage
• Current minimum wage is
$9 an hour
• Will rise to $10 an hour in
January 2016.
• Senate Bill 3
• Minimum wage would rise
to $13 per hour in 2017
and rise with inflation
• Passed the Senate and
going to theAssembly
http://media.bizj.us/view/img/5536921/crb-report.pdf

12. Think Regionally,Act Locally
Why Here, Why Now
• Skyrocketing housing costs, displacement
• Loss of diversity
• Minimum wage staggeringly lower than living wage
Demand is Rising for Bay Area Wage Increase
Growing Number of Santa Clara County Cities
Considering Increase
Cities Working Together Regionally
• Some models in consideration:
• Replicating San Jose’s ordinance with a higher wage
• Mountain View’s Draft Schedule of $15 by 2018

13. Why Here?
Why Now?
Poverty rates near record levels in
Bay Area despite hot economy
Despite being a nationwide leader
in job growth, the Bay Area suffers
from a poverty rate that still hovers
near historic highs, with more than
800,000 people in the region living
below the poverty line.

14. City Minimum Wage Ordinances
• US Conference of
Mayors’ endorsed
higher city
minimum wages
as key tools for
fighting income
inequality at the
local level

15. Minimum Wage Increases around the Bay
Oakland: $12.25 in January 2015
San Francisco: $12.25; July 2018- $15
Emeryville: $12.25/$14.44; July 2019- $16

16. MIT Living Wage Calculator:
Santa Clara County, 2014
Annual
Expenses &
Income
î
The hourly rate a full time worker must earn to support their family

17. Typical Annual Salaries: Santa Clara County
Computer
94,000
Education
52,000
Living Wage for
Single Adult
28,000
Food Prep
20,000
Minimum Wage
Workers
18,000

18. Raising the Wage Silicon Valley
Movement toward a
Raise around the
region
• Palo Alto
• Cupertino
• Los Altos
• Campbell
• Santa Clara
• Gilroy
Mountain
View &
Sunnyvale
• Modeled after San Jose
• Goes to $10.30 in July, and
working to adopt schedule
to $15 by 2018 by this
October
San Jose
• $10.30 and Indexed to CPI
with annual increases

19. How to Reach $15 Regionally by 2018
Mountain View and
Sunnyvale followed in San
Jose’s successful footsteps
and adopted a matching
ordinance with $10.30 wage
indexed to CPI.
Mountain View and
Sunnyvale are working to
adapt this ordinance to
include a schedule of
increases to reach $15 by
2018.
Reaching
$15 by
2018
1. Replicate text of San Jose’s
Ordinance
2. Adopt Mountain View’s Draft
Schedule to $15 regionally

20. Regional Model
All workers in our community deserve
a fair wage
A clear cut ordinance modeled after San
Jose assures fair wages for all
San Jose will help enforce the
ordinance regionally if crafted similarly
Following their model empowers us to
act regionally

21. Mountain View as Regional Model for $15
by 2018
San Francisco’s Path to $15 by 2018
Full Text of Proposition J
Mountain View’s Draft Schedule
Full Text of Mountain View Ordinance
Effective Date Minimum Wage Rate
7/1/15 $10.30
7/1/16 $12.00
7/1/17 $13.50
7/1/18 $15.00
July 1st Each Following Year CPI Increase

22. Thank you!