New York Times
July 23rd, 2015
The University of California system will raise the minimum wage for its employees and contract workers to $15 an hour, university officials announced on Wednesday, the latest in a string of recent victories for labor leaders here who have fought to increase workers’ pay.
The move comes after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to raise the minimum wage in unincorporated areas of the county to $15 an hour; the City of Los Angeles approved the same increase in May.
Janet Napolitano, the president of the University of California, said it would become the first public university system in the country to voluntarily raise the minimum wage as high as $15 an hour. “This is the right thing to do — for our workers and their families, for our mission and values, and to enhance U.C.’s leadership,” Ms. Napolitano, the former secretary of Homeland Security, said at a meeting of the school’s regents.