Voters in three cities give low-wage workers a raise

Minimum wage workers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and San Jose, California, and hotel workers in Long Beach, California, will be getting a raise as a result of Tuesday's elections.

In Albuquerque, an initiative to raise the minimum wage to $8.50, tie it to inflation, and increase the minimum wage for tipped workers to 60 percent of the regular minimum over two years passed overwhelmingly:

Voters approved the measure with 139,143 votes for to 70,952 against'a 66 percent to 34 percent margin.

In San Jose, voters increased the minimum wage from the state level of $8.00 to $10.00, with a slightly smaller but still substantial 59 percent of the vote. The proposal actually came out of a sociology class at San Jose State University.

In Long Beach, hotels with more than 100 rooms will have the choice between paying workers $13 an hour and offering full-time workers paid sick days or agreeing to collective bargaining. The measure passed with 63 percent of the vote. A housekeeper who will be affected said that "I have said all along that the second thing I would do when Measure N passes is take my family off of public assistance. But the first thing I will do is a dance of joy."

She probably won't be alone in either of those things.