City Council Set to Squash $15 Min. Wage Vote

The Minneapolis City Council will make a final decision Friday on whether the public will vote on the $15 minimum wage initiative.  A council committee vote that took place on Wednesday demonstrated that unless several members have changed their minds in the last 48 hours, the measure will likely be turned down.

The effort is led by a group called “15 Now.”  The group’s goal is to increase the minimum wage in increments until it reaches $15 in 2020 for small businesses and 2022 for large businesses.  

More than 100 protesters gathered at the Minneapolis City Hall Wednesday to urge the council to vote in favor of putting the $15 minimum wage initiative on the ballot.  

Despite the protests, a council committee voted down the measure 10-2.  Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal recommended not putting the measure on the ballot due to it not meeting “certain legal requirements.”

The full council votes on the initiative Friday.  Several cities including Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco have passed similar initiatives to raise the minimum wage to $15 over the next several years.  As Alpha News previously reported, many of those decisions have led to drastic unemployment numbers.  

The same group of protesters called on council members to allow the public to also vote on whether or not police officers should be mandated to have liability insurance. City Attorney Segal recommended against putting the insurance initiative on the ballot.  The council committee voted down that measure 9-1.

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Julia Erynn