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D.C. City Council today approved legislation that will increase the District's minimum wage next month from $6.15 to $6.60 per hour, and take it to $7 per hour in January 2006. The mayor is expected to sign the legislation, which passed without opposition. Councilman David Catania, I-At Large, who spearheaded the wage hike, called the council's action "a good first step" in giving D.C. workers a livable wage. Still, he said that "$6.60 is painfully low" pay for workers trying to keep pace with steep cost-of-living increases in the Washington area in recent years. "I have no pretense this will bring a dramatic increase in the quality of life for the poorest citizens," he said. The two-step increase in the minimum was intended to offset small business concerns about rising personnel costs. During a mid-afternoon press conference, Catania thanked the business community for its support of the legislation. "The business industry did not fight us ... they understood the benefit of workers' increased purchasing power," Catania said. Currently, 13 states have a higher minimum wage than the federal minimum of $5.15 per hour. Catania noted that Maryland and Virginia do not, putting D.C. businesses at a disadvantage when comparing costs of doing business. However, Catania said the Maryland and Virginia state legislatures should address the rising cost of living for workers by increasing their minimum wage rates, as well. (Former CORO Fellow) Gregg Irish, director of the D.C. Department of Employment Services, said today's council vote was the right thing to do for the minimum-wage earners in the District, whom he described as predominantly "black and brown faces and, often, single mothers." [more]