Republicans in Congress couldn't stop all these minimum wage increases

The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour, and it’s going to stay that way as long as Republicans control Congress. But that doesn’t mean 2015 didn’t see progress for many low-wage workers, while minimum wage advances won in recent years will keep going into effect in 2016. The minimum wage was raised in cities, counties, and states in 2015—and not just there. It’s progress that’s happened through the efforts of thousands of workers who’ve organized and fought for more than their bosses are willing to give up without a fight.

Los Angeles will be raising its minimum wage to $15 by 2020, and after the city passed that increase, Los Angeles County followed suit. Boy, is that slow, but it’s progress. After the Washington city of SeaTac passed a minimum wage increase to $15 in 2013, employers at the Sea-Tac airport kept that raise from applying to airport workers until August when the state supreme court extended it to those airport workers. The employers, though, are still fighting to roll back the raise. Voters in Tacoma, Washington, also voted to gradually raise the city’s minimum wage to $12 an hour. On the east coast, fast food workers in New York will be getting a raise to $15. Rhode Island raised its minimum wage yet again—it will be going up to $9.60 an hour on January 1.

While Rhode Island’s government had to take action to make that raise happen, it’s not the only state where workers will get a raise on December 31 or January 1. In fact, the minimum wage will be going up in 13 other states: New York, West Virginia, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Vermont. The minimum wage in these states will be rising to a low of $8 in Arkansas and a high of $10 in California and Massachusetts. They’ll trail Washington, D.C., though—the minimum wage there will rise to $11.50 on July 1.

After years of organizing by low-wage workers, several companies raised their pay, although not usually enough or for all workers. Walmart made a big fuss about raising its entry level pay, but let’s be clear: $9 is not a minimum wage, and Walmart can afford more. Still, TJ Maxx and Marshalls and then Target followed suit. McDonald’s made a big deal of raising its lowest pay to a dollar above minimum wage … but only applied that to the small fraction of workers in McDonald’s restaurants owned by the corporation rather than by franchisees. Ikea, by contrast, made a wage move for a second year in a row, going to an average minimum wage of $11.87, based on cost of living, with an overall minimum of $10.

While all that accounts for a lot of workers getting raises in the past year or in months to come, there were also setbacks. In the not-quite-a-setback-but-could-have-been-better department, voters in Portland, Maine, rejected an increase to $15 an hour … but the city council there had already passed an increase to $10.10 on January 1. Michigan and Missouri Republicans passed laws blocking cities and towns from increasing their own local minimum wages; in Missouri, that led to a St. Louis minimum wage raise being overturned by a judge. In Desert Hot Springs, California, a new city council backed away from a raise after threats from Walmart. And, of course, there’s always Congress.

Workers across the country continue fighting for a living wage—whether it comes from a state, local, or federal law or from a company feeling the heat. And a higher minimum wage is very popular, according to polls. But in the mean time, we live in a country where many people work while living in poverty and where workers can't afford rent on minimum wage pay.