After years of rejection by a Republican governor and many months of dispute between Democrats, New Jersey on Monday joined the national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bill raising the wage, sent to him Thursday by the Legislature, at the Elizabeth headquarters of immigrant advocacy group Make the Road NJ. The building was packed with Democratic leaders and several dozen union workers who frequently broke into chants, giving the ceremony the raucous vibe of a political rally.

Murphy was joined by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, the Democratic leaders he negotiated with to reach what Murphy calls a "historic" policy, as well as Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver.

"We have talked long enough about putting New Jersey on a responsible path to a $15-an-hour minimum wage," Murphy said before signing the bill. "Today we start our way on this path."

Murphy's signature does not trigger an automatic increase. Instead, it puts New Jersey on a timeline, beginning in July, to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for most workers by 2024.

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The wage increase has been a long-sought goal for Democrats in New Jersey and nationwide, rooted in the belief that boosting the minimum pay for entry-level and low-skill jobs in industries such as food service and retail will help lift the fortunes of those workers and enable them to participate more in the economy.

"The rich are getting richer and the workers are getting less, and that’s how the rich get wealthier — off the backs of us," Sweeney said. "What we’ve been able to do with this bill is strike a balance. It’s a fair bill."

Murphy has advocated for the $15 minimum wage since at least 2015, and Oliver had been pushing since she entered the Legislature in 2004 to raise the minimum wage.

"We have been fighting literally for 15, 16 years in the Statehouse to raise the minimum wage to a wage that people can move their lives forward," said Oliver, a former Assembly speaker.

"Now we are on a trajectory to help people pay their bills. I know what it’s like to have to juggle car insurance payment, car note, that credit card bill and children’s tuition and the things that children need to go to school," Oliver added. "You’ve been making these tough decisions for far too long in New Jersey. And hopefully, with the elevation of the minimum wage, families can begin to offer their children a better quality of life."

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But there are many skeptics, including business owners who say the added cost to pay their employees will be passed on to customers or force cuts. And no Republican voted for the minimum wage, though one former Republican, Sen. Dawn Addiego, did. She switched parties to become a Democrat just days before the final vote that sent the bill to Murphy's desk.

Sen. Kip Bateman, R-Somerset, does not dispute that the minimum wage should increase, but the way it was carried out could potentially harm workers, he said in a statement. Longtime businesses "that make our Main Streets unique" will be forced out of business, seasonal destinations like the Jersey Shore "will change forever" and large corporations and chains will replace entry-level jobs with kiosks and automated services, he said.

"I don’t think we have left our over-taxed and over-regulated business owners with any other alternative than to replace people with technology or close all together," Bateman said. “To someone who lives paycheck to paycheck, what’s worse: having a job that doesn’t pay enough? Or no job at all?"

In an interview Monday afternoon, Murphy pushed back against some of those concerns. He pointed out that automation is already a reality in some places, such as McDonald's and Panera, and he called the implementation of the law "a very responsible, long-fused phase-in."

"I think we’ve done it in a way that’s responsible," Murphy said.

Democrats, led by Sweeney, tried in the past to reach the $15-an-hour benchmark but were blocked by Chris Christie, the former Republican governor, who shared many of the same concerns as critics like Bateman.

But Murphy made raising the wage a top campaign promise and, in theory, could have quickly signed the bill Christie had vetoed. Once he took office last year, though, Murphy and Democrats got bogged down in the details. Murphy favored a "clean shot" bill, with no exemptions, while Sweeney and Coughlin were more receptive to concerns raised by the business community.

Under the bill, most of New Jersey’s low-wage workers would see the minimum wage rise to $10 an hour in July and jump another $1 each Jan. 1 until reaching $15 an hour in 2024. The current minimum rate is $8.85 an hour.

Some employees — seasonal workers, employees at businesses with fewer than six workers and farm laborers — will see their wages increase on a slower timeline. Those groups will see their first wage boost, to $10.30, at the beginning of next year.

Supporters at Monday's bill signing said they would have preferred to see Murphy sign the bill with a quicker phase-in and no exemptions, but they celebrated the new law as a landmark achievement that puts many New Jersey workers on a better financial path. And they vowed to continue advocating for changes that would be more inclusive.

"It would be great if $15 an hour was tomorrow. But at least there's hope," Brian Kulas, a 41-year-old banquet worker, said in an interview. He had introduced Murphy at the bill signing and said the increase will open up more opportunities for him in the food service industry. "This is the beginning. We're not slowing down."

There were about 100,000 workers in New Jersey making the minimum wage in 2017, the most recent year for which there is complete data available, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

But there are many more who make more than the minimum wage but less than $15 an hour. And by 2024 the wage increase will affect more than 1 million people, according to New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal-leaning think tank that advocated for the wage increase.

New Jersey joins California, New York, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., on a path to a $15 minimum wage, and other states are considering it. And with the 2020 presidential race kicking off, Democratic candidates are already discussing the prospect of raising the federal minimum wage to that level.

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