Advocates for increasing the Las Cruces minimum wage to $10.10 an hour delivered more than six thousand petitions to the city clerk Monday.
The group Café, New Mexico Communities in Action and Faith, said they prayed over the more than six thousand petitions before submitting them to the city clerk’s office. Just 2,257 valid signatures are needed to put the minimum wage issue before the Las Cruces City Council.
The council could approve Café’s measure, which would increase the city’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017. But that seems unlikely, since the council recently approved a minimum wage increase to $8.50 by 2016.
As a result, it seems more likely that voters will have the final say in the November election, assuming enough valid signatures were submitted.
The minimum wage became a top political issue last year, when the state legislature approved an $8.50 state minimum wage, a bill that was vetoed by Governor Susana Martinez. Martinez’s Democratic opponent this fall, Attorney General Gary King, has announced his support for a $10.10 state minimum wage.
The $10.10 figure became a focus in Las Cruces and elsewhere after President Obama announced a $10.10 an hour minimum for federal contract employees.