Willow Glen Resident
News
Workers, employers deal with wage hike
By Stephen Baxter
Eight years ago, at age 18, Ricardo Pita started grilling burgers at a Jack in the Box in West San Jose for $6.75 an hour. When his shift ended each afternoon, he would chug over to his second job at McDonald's. He worked about 40 hours a week.
After several more jobs waiting tables, in late 2007, he became the owner of the Coffee Bug Cafe at 606 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. He doesn't have any employees yet in his small shop, but he says he would pay them $9 an hour. The minimum wage should be a starting point for workers, he said.
"You have to try to do something better; you cannot stay there," he said. Workers can barely skim by on that amount, he added.
California raised its minimum hourly wage to $8 on Jan. 1 as part of the final phase of a two-step increase that jumped it from $6.75 to $7.50 in January 2007. The federal minimum wage is $5.85 per hour, but it also will rise to $6.55 in July.
Many employees in the city liked the idea of a wage hike, but some local economists worried that employers would be forced to hire fewer workers--and employees who remained would have to do more.
"We're going to see a lot more employers hiring part-time instead of full-time," said Lydia Ortega, chairwoman of the economics department at San Jose State University.
"The quality of the work life changes, so people will be doing more demanding stuff--your job and a half, perhaps," she said.
A student who Ortega knows who works as a waitress told her that she disliked the minimum-wage hike. She could do homework or read a book when it was slow, but if there were fewer workers she said she feared that her boss might add duties like cleaning bathrooms.
Other workers in San Jose said they appreciated the extra money.
Matt Polizzi,17, is a cashier at Powell's Sweet Shoppe in Willow Glen.
On a recent Tuesday, the Leigh High School senior wore a black apron while restocking candy jars and helping customers. He made $8 an hour when he started two months ago.
"We have a tip jar, we get tips usually if there's a big order if people are nice," he said.
Polizzi said he spends his money on gas and food, and he is planning to attend college. He has a second job at the Campbell Community Center, and he said he liked that the wage rose.
Though the cost of living in San Jose is relatively high compared with the Central Valley and other areas of the state, many jobs don't top the minimum wage. Many job openings advertised online on Craig's List in January paid minimum wage or close to it, including work in valet parking, pizza delivery and other services.
Phaedra Ellis Lamkins, chief executive of the South Bay Labor Council, said she was pleased with the increase in minimum wages.
"We're happy to see the minimum wage increase as a floor, but it's certainly not enough to live on," she said.
Back at the Coffee Bug, Pita, 26, said the wage increase also should be taken in context with those in other places. San Jose wages are at least double what they are for comparable work in his hometown of Morelos, Mexico.
"I always tried to escalate my pay with better jobs," he said.
