Tucson became the latest city in Arizona to increase its minimum wage to $15 per hour at the ballot box Nov. 2. Following Flagstaff’s lead in 2016, voters overwhelmingly supported the hike with roughly 60% of the vote.
The hourly wage won’t jump to $15 right away, but will gradually increase with the goal of hitting the mark by 2025.
Unofficial results released Tuesday night show the measure passed by a 60% margin. Under it, Tucson’s minimum wage will reach $13 per hour in April and raise incrementally over the next four years.
C.J. Boyd is the campaign manager for Tucson Fight for $15, the group behind the initiative.
"We’ve had a great deal of support from our local business community, precisely because so many small business owners see their employees as friends, as people they are about," he said.
Flagstaff became the first Arizona city to approve a minimum wage increase in 2016. Boyd said when drafting the Tucson bill, his campaign used lessons learned from Flagstaff to include ways to enforce workers' rights and compliance among businesses.
The Show spoke with Billy Peard, one of the main backers of the winning campaign, to discuss the vote's significance.
