A Louisville Metro Council committee on Thursday will vote on whether to send an ordinance aiming to raise the local minimum wage to the full council for approval.
The ordinance wasintroduced in Septemberby a group of council Democrats and seeks to incrementally raise the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour by July 2017.
Councilman David James, a co-sponsor of the bill, said he expects to see amendments offered at Thursday’s Labor and Economic Development committee meeting that will “water down the ordinance.”
“I think it’s going to be a bumpy road,” said James, a Democrat whose district includes Old Louisville
James said “there is a lot of people pushing” for the wage hike to be capped at $8.50 an hour, rather than the proposed $10.10 an hour.
He said any amendments for a minimum wage lower than $10.10 an hour will be unacceptable.
“You know, $10.10 an hour, gradually brought up by the summer of 2017, I don’t think is really such a hard thing to do,” he said.
Proponents of the minimum wage hike will help impoverished Louisvillians, but opponents argue that the ordinance will hurt business.
