Minimum wage for Bergen County workers is now $15 an hour

HACKENSACK — Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco gave thanks for county workers on Tuesday when he signed an executive order that raises the minimum wage for full-time employees to $15 an hour.

Tedesco, riding the progressive wave that swept Phil Murphy into office earlier this month, did his part to help the governor-elect deliver on one of his key campaign promises: to nearly double the minimum wage all around the state, which now stands at $8.44. The freeholder board planned to adopt the wage hike by resolution on Tuesday night.

"Good people are essential to good government, and good managers understand that their employees need to be valued," Tedesco said at a news conference, where he was flanked by freeholders, a county union leader, and an advocate for working families. "County employees who put in 40 hours or more every week, in service to their friends and neighbors throughout Bergen County, deserve and have earned a $15 minimum wage."

The wage hike, which is retroactive to Sept. 1, immediately affects 129 blue-collar and white-collar workers scattered about county government. Some are office clerks, others are drivers, and still others work for the county road department and public works.

The county estimates that the wage hikes will cost $360,647 in the first year, which is less than 1 percent of the county's $522 million budget.. Tedesco said the minimum wage increases were part of two contracts that the county signed recently with locals 655 and 755 of the United Services Workers Union. Tedesco said there no plans to give the $15 wage to part-time county workers.

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By adopting a $15 minimum wage for its full-time employees, Bergen County got the jump on what is expected to become a statewide policy under Murphy, with the Democrats now in control of all three branches of state government. Murphy used his first public appearance at the Statehouse on Monday to repeat his promise to sign a bill soon after his inauguration in January raising the minimum wage statewide to $15.

"If you do the math, $15 is hardly heroic," Murphy said at a State House news conference on Monday, where he was flanked by Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Spreaker-designate Craig Coughlin. Murphy acknowledged that a two-income couple working full-time for $15 an hour would barely live above the poverty line.

"We have to get there. We have to do it responsibly, but we must get there," Murphy said.

The move to raise the minimum wage has been pushed for years by advocacy groups like New Jersey Working Families. But Gov. Chris Christie has never supported it.

But the times are changing. Analilia Mejia, director of New Jersey Working Families, said that one in four people in the state aren't paid enough to support themselves, and she called Bergen County's initiative "a great step in the right direction."

Tedesco said he wants to raise wages now and put more money in the pockets of county workers in time for the holidays. To that end, he has the blessing of the freeholder board.

"Not only is this something that we can afford, but it will positively affect the county's economy, and still allow us to hold the line on taxes," said Thomas Sullivan, the vice chairman of the freeholder board. "It's also the right thing to do."

Joseph Gautier, the president of Local 755, said the minimum salary for a full-time worker will rise from $27,341 to $31,200, which he called "a step in the right direction" toward economic fairness.

"No full time worker worker should live below the poverty line," he said. "It is my hope that others follow Bergen County's lead and make this initiative a priority."