minimum wage
In a huge blow to the labor rights movement, the multi-billion dollar retail giant beat efforts by warehouse workers to unionize.
Over 50 million workers in America are paid under $15 an hour, or some $31,200 per year, according to a new report.
The wage floor in California and New York will hit $15 for many workers in 2022.
The higher wage floor will apply to new federal contracts across the country after Jan. 30.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
The Labor Department is reversing a Trump-era policy that made it easier to pay tipped workers less for their time.
"I met people across the country, from Appalachia to Oakland, who worked multiple jobs, had multiple roommates, and still could not reliably pay all of their bills each month."
The new law also makes fashion brands more accountable for wage theft committed by subcontractors in L.A. garment factories.
The last hike came early in former President Barack Obama’s first term.
At local minimum wage rates, a worker would have to put in 79 hours a week, nearly two full-time jobs, to afford a modest one-bedroom rental, a report finds.
The president's plan will hike the federal government's wage floor significantly in 2022.