San Francisco voters will be asked to gradually raise the city's minimum wage over the next four years until it's the highest in the nation at $15 an hour in 2018, under a deal finalized Tuesday.
The mayor, city supervisors and business and labor leaders came together on the compromise—even the Chamber of Commerce was on hand—but service industry representatives warned the plan would be hard on restaurants and other hospitality-related businesses.
The compromise announced at City Hall would increase the city's current hourly base pay, $10.74, to $12.25 next May 1, then to $13 in July 2016 and $1 each subsequent year until it reaches $15 in 2018. That would bring the annual pay for a full-time minimum-wage worker to $31,000.
The deal means that labor activists, who had filed a separate ballot measure to raise the wage to $15 by 2017, will drop their effort.
"I can't tell you how happy I am - San Francisco is yet again setting the bar on workers' rights," said Supervisor Jane Kim, who helped broker the deal. "All San Francisco employers will be paying $15 an hour by 2018 - there will be no tip credit, no health care credit. These are pure wages workers will be bringing home to their families."
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