January 1, 2008
 

New minimum wage takes effect today

JONDI GUMZ
Sentinel staff writer
 

Eli Reynolds, a driver at Pizza My Heart, is about to see his pay go up. So is Catherine Yi, a waitress at Clouds restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz.

The state's new minimum, takes effect today, raising pay from $7.50 per hour to $8 per hour.

Nearly 1.5 million Californians are expected to benefit from the new minimum, including farm workers, homecare workers, janitors, nursing home attendants, security guards, childcare workers, sales staff and restaurant employees.

Scott Hauge of Small Business California said many small businesses pay more than the minimum wage.

Local examples include New Leaf Community Markets, which starts new employees at $10 per hour, and Sitar, a downtown Santa Cruz restaurant.

Sarah Johnson, a server and busser at Sitar, already makes $8 an hour but she plans to leave for a job at UC Santa Cruz because the job offers benefits.

Small Business California unsuccessfully sought a "tip credit," which would allow a restaurant to pay less than the minimum wage under the theory that employees receive tips that more than make up the difference between the workers' hourly wage and the minimum wage.

California is one of the few states in the country that doesn't have a tip credit, Hauge said.

Yi, a senior studying ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, has worked at Clouds since April. She said the extra money will come in handy to cover her university bills.

Reynolds, 21, who's worked at Pizza My Heart for two years, said he planned to invest in the stock market.

"People forget the dollar's value is not constant," said pizza customer Brian Kane, overhearing the conversation.

The California Labor Federation, noting the state-mandated increase, says it's not enough because of inflation. According to the California Budget Project, a single adult working full-time needs to earn more than $13 an hour to cover basic expenses such as housing, food, transportation and health care.

Wages in the public sector in Santa Cruz are close to that figure, thanks to a "living wage' ordinance with a cost of living clause adopted by the City Council in 2000. Pay has risen from $11 to $12.65 with benefits and from $12 to $13.80 without benefits. The county of Santa Cruz and the city of Watsonville adopted the same living wage minimums.

For information, visit http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_MinimumWage.htm

Contact Jondi Gumz at 706-3253 or jgumz@santacruzsentinel.com