This Idaho employer of 1,000 workers raises its minimum wage to $15 per hour

Chobani is raising its minimum wage.

Starting in the first quarter of 2021, all hourly Chobani employees will make a minimum of $15 an hour, a 15% increase over the $13 minimum rate the company currently pays.

The change will increase earnings for workers at Chobani’s Twin Falls, Idaho, plant, and for staff at the yogurt giant’s upstate New York plant.

Chobani’s Twin Falls factory, the largest yogurt facility in the world, has about 1,000 employees, 70% of whom are hourly workers.

Idaho’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, the lowest allowed by federal law. The federal government hasn’t increased the minimum wage in over a decade. Some nearby states have significantly higher minimum wage levels than Idaho’s, for instance, Washington’s minimum wage is $13.50, while both Oregon and California are at $12 an hour.

The average per hour earnings for an employee at the Twin Falls and upstate New York plants will soon be $19 an hour, the company said.

“Raising our base starting salary is the right thing to do and we hope other businesses, particularly food manufacturers, feel the same as we all work toward rebuilding our country,” Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya said in a news release.

The company is also raising the starting wages for its New York City hourly employees to $18 an hour.

This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 4:00 AM.