Berkeley OKs minimum wage rate hike

BERKELEY (BCN) -- The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously today to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 in two years.

The council called a special meeting for this morning to vote on a compromise between dueling measures on November's ballot that propose different timelines to raise the city's minimum wage.

The minimum wage is set to go to $12.53 on Oct. 1, still below the minimum wage in neighboring cities of Emeryville and Oakland.

Under the ordinance passed today, Berkeley's minimum wage will rise to $13.75 on Oct. 1, 2017, and then to $15 on Oct. 1, 2018. It will go up according to the consumer price index after that.

The City Council voted 8-0 to pass the measure at today's meeting. Councilman Max Anderson was absent.

They will reconvene at another special meeting at 9 a.m. Monday for a second reading of the ordinance.