Union submits signatures for $15 California minimum wage
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A faction of California's largest union has begun submitting signatures for a ballot initiative asking voters to raise California's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom joined SEIU's United Healthcare Workers West in San Francisco on Tuesday as union officials turned in signatures. The group said it has collected 600,000 names, far more than the nearly 366,000 required to qualify an initiative this year.
The initiative asks voters to raise the minimum wage by $1 a year until it hits $15 in 2021. After that it would be adjusted for inflation.
The state council of SEIU also is collecting signatures for a competing minimum wage initiative that would bring it to $15 by 2020, a year earlier, and provide six paid sick days annually.