Petaluma Third Local City to Adopt 'Living Wage' Law
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
November 7, 2006

By Tobias Young

Petaluma's City Council on Monday voted unanimously to adopt a "living wage" law, joining two other Sonoma County cities that have passed similar ordinances in the past three years.

The 6-0 vote, which followed more than a year of negotiations with labor groups, requires a minimum wage of $11.70 an hour with health benefits, or $13.20 without, for the city and for workers with companies doing substantial business with the city.

Marty Bennett, co-chairman of the Living Wage Coalition and executive director of the nonprofit New Economy Working Solutions, said he was grateful for the unanimous support. He said the next effort will be to pass
a living wage law countywide, now that Petaluma has joined Sonoma and Sebastopol as local cities with living wage laws.

"Certainly now we'll be setting our sights on the county of Sonoma," he said. "We think a majority of the Board of Supervisors are ready to support this. We think the 6-0 vote here and the consensus that emerged here certainly reflects countywide opinion."

He pointed to 1,500 cards of support the Living Wage Coalition turned in to Petaluma and support from organizations ranging from Sonoma County Conservation Action to the North Bay L abor Council as evidence.

After discussing the law at several meetings over the past few months, the Petaluma council worked out several concerns to reach consensus.

The city removed nonprofits from the proposal after several programs, such as those delivering meals to homebound seniors, said it would threaten their programs.

The Living Wage Coalition will continue to work with the nonprofits and community leaders to generate additional funding so the nonprofits can voluntarily comply, Bennett said.

The council also excluded existing leases and dropped a requirement that private businesses that accept city money not interfere in union organizing. The council is expected to consider that issue separately.

The ordinance is projected to cost the city and its contractors about $163,000 annually and result in higher wages for 27 workers, including about a dozen bus drivers working for a contractor operating the city's
transit system. If nonprofits had been included, the potential annual cost would have been $220,000.