UC system will raise minimum wage to $15 an hour

Source: San Jose Mercury News

BERKELEY -- The University of California announced on Wednesday a plan to increase by up to 67 percent the minimum wage UC pays its employees, an effort that would raise the wage to $15 a hour, which would make UC the nation's first public university system to set the wage bar that high.

The current minimum wage for the UC system is $9 an hour. The next wage increase is scheduled to take place on Oct. 1 and reach $13 an hour. After that, the next scheduled minimum wage level will be $14 an hour in October 2016 and $15 an hour on Oct. 1, 2017.

"This is the right thing to do, for our workers and their families, for our mission and values, and to enhance UC's leadership role," said Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California.

With this wage plan, announced Wednesday at a UC Board of Regents meetings, the UC system will become the first public university in the nation to voluntarily establish a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

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