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Lawmakers Push To Increase Minimum Wage In LA

Mayor Eric Garcetti and Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez spoke in Downtown Los Angeles and North Hollywood today to promote an increase in the minimum wage.

Mayor Garcetti and Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez spoke about raising the minimum wage and the issue of wage theft Tuesday. They said that increasing the minimum wage would benefit the entire community.

"If all the people who lived in poverty in LA were an independent city, they’d be the tenth largest in America, the third largest in our state," Garcetti explained.

"In January of this year, seven million Americans got an increase in the minimum wage as a result of state and local action," Perez added.

The pair was greeted with cheers at an event dowtown where hundreds of people with United Service Workers West came out to support an increase in the minimum wage and greater protection for workers. 

Tina Tran was a victim of wage theft and says while she was able to file a claim and settle with her employer, many of her co-workers haven't been able to do the same. She says she wasn't paid for overtime and never received meal or rest periods.

"The biggest issue of all was that I was being misclassified and as a result, that’s why I was not being paid for overtime." Tran explained.

Minimum wage talks are happening all across the city. The LA County Board of Supervisors commissioned their own study today to look at the effects of raising the minimum wage. In addition, the City Council's Economic Development Committee held a meeting Tuesday night to get public imput about the policy.

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