Mayor's $15 minimum wage plan earns support of low wage workers

Working Washington expresses support for Mayor Murray's $15 minimum wage plan

“This is a $15 minimum wage plan that works for workers, and for the entire city"

On behalf of the fast-food workers whose strikes, marches, boycotts, and other mobilizations brought the call for $15 an hour to the center of public debate, Working Washington issues the following statement in support of the Mayor's plan to achieve a true $15 minimum wage for all workers:

This is a $15 minimum wage plan that works for workers, and for the entire city.

Representatives of working people, businesses, nonprofits, and other diverse community leaders have come together on a recommendation that reaches a true $15 minimum wage for all workers, helps independent businesses & nonprofits thrive, and includes robust community-based enforcement.

It's an incredible accomplishment.

On May 30th of last year, Seattle fast food workers went on strike for $15 because they knew that raising pay was necessary — even if in those first days it might not have seemed possible we could get there. But their leadership and commitment helped spark an extraordinary grassroots workers' movement that rapidly built support across the entire city. Less than a year later, we are on the verge of achieving a $15 minimum wage that ensures every worker in Seattle can support themselves, afford the basics, and contribute to the economy.

Fast food workers led the way forward, and the city has heard their call. 

"What matters most to me is my 4 year old daughter, Canaela," said Julia DePape, a Seattle McDonald's worker with Working Washington. "My dream is to give her the same opportunities as other children. For starters, I want to provide a stable home for her and I want to give her a space to call her own. Also, Canaela loves cats and dogs and probably any other animal she'd meet. I dream of taking her to the zoo for the first time because I can only imagine how her face would light up. With $15, I have a chance at that!"

Now that Mayor Murray has achieved broad agreement on a plan that makes a true $15 minimum wage a reality for all Seattle workers, we look forward to working with City Council to move forward and put these recommendations into law.

Highlights:

The Mayor's plan raises up 100,000 low-wage workers, lifting our entire city:

• Everyone who works at a big business like McDonald's or Lowe's and doesn’t receive healthcare through their job will see their minimum wage rise to $15/hour by January 1, 2017. The $15/hour minimum will increase with inflation every year after that; this rate sets the standard for all workers.
• Every low-wage worker in the city will see a significant increase to their base wage each year as they get to $15/hour, and then to parity with the citywide minimum
• Every worker gets to the same place: a true inflation-adjusted $15 minimum wage — with no deductions for tips or benefits. At current rates of inflation, the citywide minimum for all workers will reach about $18.13/hour in ten years.
• Every worker will benefit from a robust system of community-based enforcement that ensures the $15 minimum wage, sick leave, wage theft, and other labor standards are realities for every worker in Seattle.

The $15 Movement walks in MLK's footsteps

“We get discouraged a lot as black people in America,” Martina, who works at McDonald’s, said to the gathered crowd at the culminating rally of the Martin Luther King Jr Seattle March. “But, I’m going to keep pushing for a $15 minimum wage because I can’t afford to go back to school on the wage right now. I want to get my BA and get a job that helps people.”

She continued.

“All of us are out here fighting for $15,” she said. “We can make it happen, if we don’t give up.”

The 31st annual Seattle Martin Luther King Jr Day March was focused squarely on King’s fight for economic justice - in Seattle, in 2014, that means the $15 movement.

Thousands of community members marched from Garfield High School to Westlake Park all united under the theme of the day “Rise Up. Restore the Dream.” The march was a continuation of Dr. King’s fight for economic opportunity and racial justice.

On the original “March on Washington” of the ten demands the protesters brought to to DC six of the ten demands were directly related to economic justice. One of the boldest demands was for a national minimum wage “that will give all Americans a decent standard of living.” ( By the way, the demand was for $2 an hour which adjusted from 1963 dollars to 2013 dollars is roughly $15 an hour.)

The crowd grew as we marched through Capitol Hill and downtown. Banners and hand held signs dotted the crowd as community organizations from a diverse collection of labor, faith and peace activists all marched together — united. News helicopters followed and local journalists jogged on the sidewalks trying to keep up with the brisk pace down to our ending point, Westlake Park.

Carlos, a student at Seattle Community College and a fast food striker, spoke at the culminating rally in Westlake Park.

“We need to get together,” he said. “If we want to make real, lasting change, we can’t do it alone. This movement about $15 an hour is real, is concrete. It’s a first step we have to take.”

“We may have differences,” he said. “We have differences, but we are all people, we all want good jobs and a chance to take care of our families. We can do this for ourselves, for our families, for everyone!”

From faith leaders and hip hop artists to fast food workers and city councilmembers, speaker after speaker talked about the need for Seattle to pass a $15 an hour minimum wage that would benefit everyone.

Newly elected Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant spoke to the crowd.

“This is more than a fight for $15,” she said. “It is about all of us, the people on the bottom, finally waking up. Let’s get out there and get this done.”

On The March - 13 miles for $15

Fast food workers and community allies went on the march for $15 from the victory in SeaTac all the way to Seattle City Hall - literally, 13+ miles. These are our stories. Mile 1: We start our march on the corner of 176th and International Blvd after a launch rally, more like a launch party in the SeaTac Hilton. Every news station is outside in a scrum snapping photos and video as we start our 13 mile epic march to Seattle for $15 an hour.

Mile 2: Media cameras go to live feeds with reporters having to shout into their microphones to be heard over chants and cheers of our crowd. We paused briefly and thanked an early supporter of the $15 movement in SeaTac, Olive Express. They are a small business that was out front backing the SeaTac Good Jobs Initiative from the get go.

We cheered. Then, as we passed the big fast food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King we let them know that we expect profitable corporations to pay better than poverty wages.

Mile 3: We stopped briefly at Abubakr Islamic Center in Tukwila, an important base of support for the $15 movement. There board member Abdi talks to the crowd with a few prepared remarks.

“Peace be upon you, we support you 100%. We will fight with you for better wages and justice for the low wage workers. We are in this together.”

Also, news crews snagged a few more interviews with workers including a Spanish language interview on Univision.

Mile 4: We stomped down International Boulevard picking up our pace. The next few miles were a little lacking in scenery, but our chants and music and tons of supportive honks and kept our spirits high.

Mile 5: We launched our “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit answering questions with chilled fingers making the typing difficult as we continued to march in sub freezing weather. Also, City Council Elect Kshama Sawant joins the march about this time (she ended up marching the rest of the way with us).

Mile 6: We crossed onto Boeing Access Road over I-5. As we turned onto MLK we had officially crossed into Seattle.

Mile 7: Dallas, a fast food worker while hoofing it up Martin Luther King Ave captured the spirit of the march so far. “It’s simple,” he said. “If you make enough noise someone is going to HAVE to listen. Let’s keep making noise!”

Mile 8: Even though the temperature continues to drop, we march on for $15: singing, chanting and if the music warrants it, dancing in the street as we make our way up Martin Luther King Blvd. Lots of folks came out of their homes and waved as we passed - like a parade. One guy even stood by with a sign that said, simply “Thank you.”

Mile 9: We stopped at Brighton Park for lunch...ahead of schedule! News media from KING 5 to Al Jazeera set up cameras there and got a few more interviews as we all rested our feet and warmed our hands. One of the most impressive things about the marchers was their endurance. There were senior citizens who kept the pace marching alongside the children of fast food workers who would run ahead and then circle back to their parents. We set off again after everyone had a bite to eat and spirits were high as we took the street over again on our way North.

Mile 10: After we turned from MLK to Rainer, we piled into a Wendy’s completely filling it in support of better pay for poverty-wage workers. The workers looked so happy we were there, giving us smiles and thumbs-up as we chanted and explained what our movement was all about. A few were even wearing Strike Poverty buttons in support!

“We are here in support of you Wendy’s workers!” We yelled. The managers ran into the back.

Mile 11: As we crept up on our 13 mile march goal we started talking about the day and what we thought was the next steps. Ethan, a fast food worker put it into perspective.

“We deserve to be paid living wages. We’re the ones who make these big corporations all this wealth, all these profits. We are going to fight until we get fairly compensated. This is just the beginning.”

Throughout the day cars and trucks honked in support and even a Sound Transit train engineer pulled down on the whistle as he passed us.

Mile 12: We marched down Jackson until we got to Hing Hay Park in the heart of the International District. We stopped there as more people joined the group swelling our numbers. Some folks weren’t able to take time off to march the whole day, so we had set up the park as a nice rendezvous point.

We had to hand out more signs as more folks showed up. Our picket signs which simply read “On the March, Strike Poverty” were not simple. They had a huge 15 cut out of the front that lit up. Yeah. Lit. Up.

Mile 13: As we marched up 4th Avenue the sun started to set. We cranked up the noise as commuters waiting for buses looked up from their cell phones and cheered us, waved or pumped their fists as we passed.

We arrived at Seattle City Hall and quickly filled up the lower staging area right next to the grand stairs. We set up a stage with two long vertical banners that had the same message as our pickets (now lit up) and heard from both fast food workers and elected officials.

We had done it. We had marched 13+ miles from SeaTac all the way to Seattle City Hall for $15 an hour. We could have walked another 13 miles we were so pumped up.

Some Seattle City Council-members not only showed their support throughout the day by tweeting about our march and the economic uplift $15 an hour would have on our communities, but they also brought out and served us hot coffee, tea and cider. After marching 13 miles in temperatures that never eclipsed 32 degrees, it was appreciated.

After City Council-member Mike O’Brien — a strong ally of the our movement since the first fast food strike — offered his support, wild applause greeted City Council-member Elect Kshama Sawant.

She waited for the crowd to quiet down and then got right to the heart of the matter.“We have the momentum,” she said. “We will seize this moment, but let us be honest. This will be hard. We will get to $15 an hour and workers will get the respect they deserve. Yes, this will be a hard fight – but we will win!”

We’re going to see to that.

But here’s what really put it all into relief.

Martina, a fast food worker, who couldn’t get the smile off of her face, waved to the cheering crowd.

“This $15/hr is going to be great for me,” she said. “This will change my life, but it will also be really good for everyone else too. We will all do better!”

On The March for $15 - The Video

On December 5th, more than 100 fast food workers and community supporters marched all-day from the site of the first big victory for the $15 movement in SeaTac to our next destination — Seattle City Hall.

Fast Food Workers Take #StrikePoverty to City Hall

Fast food workers and community allies filled city council chambers to give first-hand accounts about low pay, wage theft,  health & safety violations and other issues affecting low wage workers in Seattle. https://storify.com/WorkingWa/fast-food-workers-talk-wage-and-health-violations

Let's prank ALEC

Apparently, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) thinks they can fool us again. You remember them — the big, corporate lobbying group. Now they're trying to lower minimum wages. You read that right. They're up to their old tricks again — now they're trying to push for lower minimum wages because they want to pad their own pockets. But they can't trick us when it comes to our paychecks. So let’s think about tricks on them.

Click here and send  funny ideas on how we can prank the corporate front group.

We've tangled with ALEC before. Last year thousands of people across the country pushed dozens of companies and legislators to dump ALEC. Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, cut its ties with the corporate front group because of pressure from community groups, individuals and folks like you.

You would think ALEC would get the message.

Maybe we need to clown around a bit more since their ideas are such a joke.

We need good jobs with living wages. It really is that simple. Yet ALEC keeps going back to their playbook of failed economic policies that got us into this mess in the first place. ALEC thinks it can trick us again with clever names and more empty promises.

This time the joke's on them.