SAN FRANCISCO: Supervisors Approve Living Wage Law
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a plan Monday that would boost wages and provide some health care coverage for thousands of the city's low-paid workers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Under the city's living wage law, workers at not-for-profit agencies that provide services for the city, employees of private businesses with city contracts and workers at businesses at San Francisco International Airport will receive at least $9 per hour this year. Next year, the plan calls for a wage hike to $10 per hour, with 2.5% pay raises during the three subsequent years. The "biggest part" of the new law calls for nearly 30,000 uninsured workers to receive some health care coverage, either through their employers or a city-run pool funded by contributions from employers. Even with the wage increases, the cost of living in the Bay Area will still be to high for some workers, according to Mayor Willie Brown (D). He noted that the insurance coverage provision of the law will probably be more important to workers than the actual wage hike. How much the health insurance provision will cost the city is still unknown. Full details of the plan will be unveiled in a few months. Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who originally proposed a more expansive living wage law two years ago, said, "This is just the beginning. I look forward to an amplification of this legislation" (Epstein, 8/22).
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