This story is part of a Neon Tommy series exploring the lives of low-wage workers in South Los Angeles. In his State of the Union address this February, President Obama unveiled a plan for the minimum wage to be raised to $9 an hour from its current level at $7.25. 

The issue of minimum wage became one of renewed pivotal importance in the final weeks of the L.A. mayoral election, with candidate Wendy Greuel pledging to support an increase in the wages of hotel workers to $15 an hour. Workers featured in this series earn wages below, at, or slightly above the California minimum wage rate, which currently stands at $8 an hour. These are the workers who would be affected by a new policy.

Nelly Acosta sits at Vermont Dry Cleaners surrounded by hanging racks of clothes, her hands frantically tagging shirts and pants before a tiny bell dings and another customer is at the counter. 

“I like it here. Sometimes I don’t, but mostly I do,” said Acosta.

Six days a week, Acosta stands behind the worn blue and white countertop taking orders from customers making pick-ups and drop-offs. She safety-pins numbered pieces of paper to the clothes, a process she calls “tagging.”

Acosta started working part-time at the dry cleaners six years ago. After four years of working part-time, she was ready to move on to another dry cleaner where she could start a full-time position, saying she needed a full-time position to provide for her and her 28-year-old son, Arturo.

“I asked my boss if I could use him as a reference for another job and he said he’d give me more hours if I stayed there,” said Acosta.

After being offered a full-time position, she decided to stay. “I work six to eight hours depending on the day. I just make sure I get full time divided in 6 days,” said Acosta. 

She said she also wanted to start an emergency fund for problems such as car trouble. “I was worried I wouldn’t have the money to fix my car if something happened.”

Acosta and Arturo live in an apartment a few miles away from the dry cleaners. He works as a dispatcher for a mall near LAX, stationed in a patrol room for most of the day where he watches the surveillance televisions for suspicious activity taking place in stores. “I don’t want to get into his business,” Acosta said. “He just brings the check… I don’t ask about the title.”

Without Arturo’s paycheck, she said, she wouldn’t be able to make it on her on even working full-time. “Things would be very tight.”

With their limited budget, Acosta said they were only able to live in their apartment due to rent control. Her rent only rises minimally each year, she said, when the landlord adjusts rates according to the city of L.A.’s annual rent increase taking place every July. (This year will see an increase of 3 percent, unchanged from that of 2011-2012.)

When Acosta first moved into the apartment 15 years ago, her rent was $475 a month. It is now $655.80.

“If we lived in a different apartment that wasn’t rent controlled we wouldn’t have enough money for food and gas,” she said, adding that while she and her son make ends meet, a family providing for two or three kids could not survive on the current minimum wage rate. 

“A $1 minimum wage increase isn’t enough for the daily fight someone with two or three kids goes through,” said Acosta, noting that food and gas prices were often reflected in the policy change.

She said that the increase would give her family slight leeway, however, to save money and have more breathing room, particularly for medical emergencies. Her full-time position at the dry cleaners does not offer any healthcare benefits, a concern for a woman who says she wouldn’t be able to afford any more than cold medicine without extensive budgeting.  

 “If I were to get cancer or have to get surgery, I wouldn’t be able to pay for it,” said Acosta.

Acosta said she dreamed of having the financial stability one day to become a homeowner. “Right now at this point in my life I want to save up money to buy my own house,” she said, adding that it would be a “smart” decision. “I want to buy my own property and invest in real estate.”

She said she hoped to one day live in her own home, with Arturo, “if he wants to,” she said.

Arturo is currently working towards a degree at the Los Angeles Community College.

“I want him to have a baby,” said Acosta. 

For more stories from this series, click here.