Seattle raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour

Minimal Minimum Wage (Photo credit: PropagandaTimes)

Seattle City Council voted unanimously in favor of raising the minimum wage in the city up to $ 15 per hour - the highest level in all 50 U.S. states. Level is two times the federal minimum rate transmits BBC.

Minimum wage in the city will start to increase gradually over the next year, eventually reaching $ 15 per hour to the current 9.32 per hour. Rising rates will take from 3 to 8 years depending on the state of business in the city. In the words of one member of the city council vote " sends a message to the whole world."
Currently, the minimum wage in the U.S. was 7.25 dollars an hour . However, 38 states are found at higher levels . Recently, authorities in California , Connecticut and Maryland agreed to increase the minimum wage to $ 10 or more in the coming years .

Recently, U.S. President Barack Obama called for the federal government to increase imposed administrative level to 10.10 dollars. Expected reaction of the U.S. Congress, which continues to be divided on the issue.

Raising the minimum wage was one of the main points in the election program of the Mayor of Seattle Ed Murray. The rate was discussed with the advisory group formed by representatives of employers, trade unions and NGOs.

Under the plan, companies with more than 500 employees in the country will receive at least three years to phase in an increase. Smaller firms would get to 8 years.

The former city with the highest hourly wage was San Francisco, where the rate reaches 10.74 dollars.