Setting the stage to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the city, the Fremont City Council has directed staff to draft two ordinances to move it along on a faster timeline than the state’s 2023 deadline.
One potential ordinance would require all employers in the city to pay employees $15 per hour, likely by July 2020, though a date wasn’t specified.
The other ordinance would require large businesses with 26 or more employees to meet a faster schedule, while slowing the pace of change for small businesses with 25 or fewer employees.
The city’s current minimum wage follows state law, which is $10.50 per hour for small businesses, and $11 per hour for large businesses. The state will require large businesses to increase pay annually to reach $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2022, and all businesses to do so by Jan. 1, 2023.
The two options will be discussed at a future council meeting, likely Jan. 15, when a new, seven-member council will have been seated.
At the council meeting Tuesday, city staff presented information from recently completed online surveys, as well as focus groups and meetings with residents, employees, and employers, where the issue of raising the minimum wage was the focus.
The city received more than 300 responses to a survey on the topic on the Fremont Open City Hall online forum, according to a staff report.
Overall, 62 percent of people who responded supported raising the minimum wage faster than California, while 38 percent preferred to stay on the state’s schedule.
People responding to the survey shared their thoughts on potential benefits and concerns about raising the minimum wage ordinance sooner than the state.
Some said raising it more quickly could help address the issues posed by the high cost of living in the city, assist families and workers across all age groups, and help preserve the “economic diversity of Fremont.”
It could also boost sales tax revenue and improve worker retention, according to staff reports summarizing responses to the survey.
However, the increase could also magnify labor costs for local businesses, especially as it may put pressure on employers to raise wages for higher-paid and union employees, as well. It could also raise prices for goods and services as employers try to offset the costs to them, and it could disadvantage smaller, locally owned businesses more than it would affect large chains.
Councilman Vinnie Bacon wanted to move forward with an ordinance that would require all employers in the city to pay workers $15 per hour by July 2020, but the majority of the council preferred to have two options on which the incoming council could weigh in.
If the city council chooses to implement a faster schedule than the state, Fremont would join 16 other Bay Area cities who have already adopted ordinances to do so.
Five Bay Area cities have already reached the $15 per hour threshold, and nine more are set to hit the mark in 2019, with two more in 2020.