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City council considers minimum wage hike
(Published July 26, 2004)

The District’s minimum wage would increase to $7 per hour by January 2006 under legislation being considered by the D.C. City Council.

"The efforts of hard-working citizens justify a deserving wage. …We must restore the purchasing power to thousands of residents who depend on two or three jobs to make ends meet," said Councilman David Catania, R-At Large, who chaired a council hearing July 12 on the proposal.

Workers on a full-time job who are paid the District’s current minimum wage -- $6.15 per hour – earn $12,792 a year. The proposed legislation would increase the minimum wage to $6.60 per hour in January 2005 and to $7 per hour in January 2006.

Catania’s Public Services Committee is expected to send the legislation to the full city council for consideration in late September.

The federal minimum wage was last increased in 1997, from $4.75 to $5.15 per hour. A 1993 law automatically sets the District’s minimum wage at $1 higher than the federal rate.

During the hearing, D.C. Department of Employment Services Director Gregory Irish and labor advocates endorsed the proposed minimum wage increase. A representative of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington called for creation of a special lower minimum wage that would be applicable only to workers who receive tips.