AFL CIO Los Angeles County Federation of Labor : Pasadena Council Committee Votes for Wage Increase With Strong Enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 2016
Contact: Allison Mannos, LAANE, amannos@laane•org

Vote Sets the Stage for Adoption of Citywide Policy by Full Council the Following Week

Pasadena, CA - Hundreds of low-income Pasadena parents and community members attended in support of raising the minimum wage last night at the Ed Tech Committee hearing held at City Hall. The proposed recommendations included a pathway to $15/hour, tied to inflation, with the creation of a local wage enforcement agency, along with tipped workers.

The hearing resulted in a committee vote of 4-0, which allows the proposal to come before the full City Council February 1st. A follow up from the December committee hearing, the Ed Tech vote resulted after half a dozen committee meetings, a march through Old Town, neighborhood forums, and a voter poll that shows overwhelming support by Pasadena residents. The Raise the Wage coalition has advocated for Pasadena to address its long-standing economic inequality problems, in which bordering neighborhoods contain multi million dollar craftsman mansions right next to cramped multi-family apartments.

Pasadena activists and residents acknowledged the vote as a step towards addressing poverty in the city, but implored the City Council to adopt a policy similar to that of L.A. City and County.

'Tonight, the Ed Tech Committee recognized that Pasadena needs to reduce poverty by voting for a policy with a pathway to $15/hour with enforcement,' said Robert Nothoff, Director at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) of the Minimum Wage project. 'We are hopeful that the Mayor and City Council will follow and lead the city forward and passes a policy to help 10,000 Pasadena families thrive and be able to sustain their basic needs.'

'As an educated tax preparer, I may not look like the stereotype of who earns minimum wage. Yet on only $10/hour, I struggle to pay my rent and put food on the table for my kids in our city,' said Sonia Palombo, a Pasadena resident and a member of Friends of Madison and the Pasadena Job Center. 'I hope that the City Council votes to support and include all honest, hard working parents like me so we're on equal footing with our neighbors in L.A. or Altadena.'

###

Raise the Wage is a coalition of business, labor and community leaders working to raise the minimum wage to $15, with enforcement provisions and paid sick days, to bring thousands of Pasadenans out of poverty.

Find out more atwww.pasadenaraisethewage.org