San Francisco became the first California city to implement a $15 minimum wage ordinance for all businesses on July 1. The union-backed “Fight for $15” claimed Seattle as the first city to pass a $15 minimum wage ordinance in June 2014. The movement created a groundswell, and 17 percent of Americans will live in a metropolitan area or a state with a $15 minimum wage by 2023, including the State of California. Bay Area Labor Council union leaders, elected officials, and social justice activists that worked to pass Proposition J in 2014 with the support of 77 percent of voters celebrated in a Friday afternoon rally at City Hall. There were lots of speeches claiming that the “Fight for $15’”movement has economically and socially benefited 142,000 workers. Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who co-sponsored the California legislature’s $15 statewide minimum wage bill in 2016, trumpeted San Francisco’s $15 minimum wage for all businesses as an “amazing victory.” But Ting and the union leadership challenged the SF County Board of Supervisors to end poverty by passing a “Living Wage” that was estimated to be $23.79 an hour, according to the San Francisco Examiner. The unions and Living Wage advocates claim that
