Multnomah County leads the way with a new $15/hr minimum wage for all county employees

Kari Chisholm

Thursday morning, the Multnomah County Commission bumped the minimum wage for all county employees to $15 an hour.

It had been expected that the county would approve a new three-year contract with AFSCME Local 88 to make $15 the wage floor, but in a surprise move, County Chair Deborah Kafoury extended the new wage scale to all other non-union county employees, including temporary workers.

The Mercury's Dirk Vanderhart has the details:

That deal: A phased-in wage, with the county's minimum wage brought to $13 as of January, $14 beginning in July, and $15 in July 2016. The county estimates the increases will cost: $19,905 for the first half of 2015; $85,832 for the year the wage is at $14; and $198,285 for the first year of $15 (a presidential election year heavy on seasonal elections employees).

Will the City of Portland follow suit? According to the city, bumping all temporary and seasonal workers (mostly in Parks) to $15/hour would cost close to $3 million to cover a couple thousand employees. Last month, seasonal parks rangers (a very small segment of Parks workers) won a $15.83 starting wage as part of a new contract.

It certainly seems that momentum is starting to shift, after a long period of inaction.

By Kari Chisholm Dec. 05, 2014