The Board of Supervisors approve raising the minimum wage.

By Cindy Garcia
[email protected]

“Raise the wage,” said a sign held by a resident on Thursday demanded in a packed Johnson County Board of Supervisors’ meeting.

Shortly after, the supervisors, in a third and final vote, unanimously approved an ordinance that will do just that.

The ordinance to raise the county’s minimum wage will go into effect in three stages.

On Nov. 1, the wage will change from $7.25 to $8.25. In May 2016, it will increase to $9.15. The final jump to a $10.10 wage would take place on Jan. 1, 2017.

Supervisor Janelle Rettig said after minimum wages being questioned at the federal and state levels, the minimum-wage increase was ultimately a local issue.

“I think, in the minimum-wage discussion, people have asked: ‘Why Johnson County?’ And the question is a very good question, why Johnson County? And the reason is that more people in Johnson County are living in poverty than anywhere else, percentage-wise, in the state,” Rettig said. “Around 19,000 Johnson County residents will be affected by minimum-wage increases.”

Although the room erupted into applause after the ordinance was approved, many knew there would be further obstacles.

Supervisor Mike Carberry said the supervisors would have an ongoing committee to monitor the ordinance’s progress.

Additionally, Rettig warned that the county ordinance would go into effect only if a city does not pass its own minimum wage. If a city does, it can be lower, higher, or the same as the county’s.

“The fight moves from here now to the city councilors, to the Iowa legislators, and certainly the advocacy will need to continue with the County Attorney’s Office, and we can only anticipate that what we’re trying to do is going to be challenged,” Supervisor Terrence Neuzil said.

Activists were apprehensive for other reasons.

“For the moment, what we wanted was it to be approved, but we don’t want it to just stop there,” saidMarcela Hurtado, the president of the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa in an interview conducted in Spanish. “We want it to continue. Just like the cost of living is rising, we want the minimum wage to rise in equilibrium with it.”

Hurtado said the center would continue its efforts with the goal of reaching a $15 minimum wage.

“We’ll keep fighting,” she said. “I think we haven’t finished. It’s a victory, it’s a step, but it’s not the end.”