By Alex Kellum
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
UPDATED VERSION (April 21, 2016) — The Baltimore City Council is considering an ordinance that would increase the minimum wage in the city to $15 an hour by 2020.
Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who is one of the bill’s sponsors, said the legislation is designed to increase the wage in increments over the next few years.
The bill proposes a $1.25 increase on January 1, 2017, followed by a 50 cent increase in July and a $1.50 increase each July afterward until the wage is at $15.
“It’s going to be phased in over a period of a few years, but it’ll be minimum wage by 2020,” Clarke said. “It will start accelerating above the pace of the state minimum wage, which we are following right now.”
[pullquote]Today is the last City Council meeting before the sobering anniversary of the civil unrest and our great civic reawakening to the truth that there is no peace without justice — Council member Mary Pat Clarke[/pullquote]Clarke said that the National Employment Law Project, NELP, helped establish the proposed bill. She said the bill would impact over 80,000 of Baltimore’s workers. According to NELP, this means the bill could raise the wage of over one-fifth of the city’s workforce.
“I think we have a very good chance of being successful,” Clarke said.
Supporters of the minimum wage bill met in the city hall rotunda an hour before the council meeting, holding a press conference for the bill’s supporters. Clarke spoke to the crowd, and later the city council, calling for economic justice.
“Today is the last City Council meeting before the sobering anniversary of the civil unrest and our great civic reawakening to the truth that there is no peace without justice,” Clarke said during the council meeting.
The bill, Clarke said, would also impact tip-workers, individuals whose wages include earnings of more than $30 per month in tips, such as waiters and waitresses, by raising their minimum wage to $9 per hour by 2020. Currently, tip-workers in the state of Maryland have a minimum cash wage of $3.63 an hour, relying on tips for the remainder of their income.
Clarke said she worked as a waitress to help put herself through college. She said that by 2024, tip-workers will be paid at $15.00 an hour as well.
“I know what it’s like to work for tips, but I didn’t have to support a family,” Clarke said. “Many, many, many … individuals out there living on tipped wages are supporting families, or trying to.”
Eight of the 15 councilmembers co-sponsor the bill. Some of the co-sponsors for the bill include Eric T. Costello, Helen L. Holton and Robert W. Curran. Costello and Holton both expressed concerns for Baltimore’s small business owners, and hope that there will be room for them in the discussion.
Councilman Bill Henry said he thinks the wage increase is a good idea. He said there will be opportunity for discussion in regards to the bill. Henry said that there has not been as great of an emphasis on the phasing of the wage.
Councilman Nick Mosby, one of those opposing the bill, said that he agrees with the principle of the bill, but it is important to review it before taking action.
“I believe in the bill in principle, but as it’s been stated prior, I think it’s really important that we do a full evaluation on the implications, specifically the residual implication, of this bill in the future,” Mosby said. “Increasing wage is not necessarily going to increase access to jobs or job volume in the city of Baltimore.”
Curran said that they hope to have the second and third hearings for the bill in the summer, with the bill ending up on the mayor’s desk in August. President of the Council Bernard C. “Jack” Young assigned the bill to the labor committee.
The council also approved an ordinance granting $1.2 million to the Baltimore Police Department to provide funding for legal expenses in the ongoing Department of Justice review of the agency’s police practices.
The council also appropriated $6.4 million to fund the legal settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old West Baltimore man who died because of injuries he sustained while in police custody last April. Gray’s death set off more than two weeks of demonstrations in the city.
State Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced charges against the officers last May, and trials began in December 2015, beginning with the trial of Officer William Porter, according to the Associated Press. Currently on hold, trials will resume in May 2016. The $6.4 million settlement was originally announced on Sept. 8, 2015, by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
The bill for the settlement funds was approved by the council, facing no opposition. Henry was the only to not approve on the settlement, passing on the bill.
The council also took the following actions.
- Allocated $6.8 million for two HIV projects.
- Approved an ordinance that limits the possession and use of dangerous knives by individuals under the age of 21. The ordinance will impose new penalties and define terms in regard to switchblade knives.