D.C., Durham, N.C., approve $15 minimum wage

The District of Columbia City Council voted unanimously June 6 to raise the District’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, joining California and New York state and cities like Seattle and Durham, N.C., that have approved $15 wage floors.

The Durham City Council voted June 9 to raise the minimum wage for full-time city workers to $15 an hour by 2018. Starting this July, the minimum wage will be raised to $13.35 an hour. Next year, it will bump up to $14.15, and by July 2018, it will hit $15 an hour.

The city will also look into how to bring part-time workers up to $15 per hour next year. “This is due to the weekly pickets [by United Electrical Workers Local 150, Durham City Workers,] Raise Up and Durham Beyond Policing, held in front of City Hall every Monday for 10 weeks with strong, broad community support!” wrote union organizer Dante Strobino in a May 10 email.