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Community to converge on City Hall in support of raising minimum wage

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A fast-growing, broad coalition of workers, businesspeople and civic leaders will rally outside City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, at 9 a.m., Friday, to urge the Los Angeles City Council to act without delay to increase the minimum wage and improve the lives of nearly 800,000 residents who are paid less than $15 an hour and struggle to make ends meet.

The Raise the Wage L.A coalition is pressing the City Council to move swiftly on various proposals to:

· Increase the minimum wage to $15.25 an hour from the current $9;

· Include strong enforcement provisions against wage theft that hold all employers accountable to the law; and

· Provide earned sick days so workers can care for themselves or sick family members.

Despite being a city of extraordinary wealth and opportunity, Los Angeles also suffers the worst poverty rate in the nation among big cities and has an astronomical cost of living. According to the California Budget Project, a single person with no children in Los Angeles needs to earn at least $15.79 an hour merely to cover the basics.

In recent months, national demand has soared for higher wages, more enforcement against wage theft and earned sick time for men and women who work in low-wage jobs. In cities and states across the country, voters and lawmakers have already taken action to increase the minimum wage and pass earned sick days laws. Just this month, President Barack Obama called for a higher minimum wage and earned sick days as centerpiece of his State of the Union Address.

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