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“As cities including Seattle and SeaTac pursue a minimum wage of $15 an hour, Olympia City Councilman Jim Cooper wants the discussion to begin in South Sound.
Washington’s $9.32 minimum wage is the highest in the nation. The federal minimum wage is $7.32 an hour.”
Q13: Protesters demanding $15 minimum wage arrested in Bellevue after blocking intersection
“Dozens of demonstrators marched across the I-90 bridge from Seattle to Bellevue and, for the first time, rallied in front of fast-food restaurants on the Eastside.
“The grass-roots movement that happened in Seattle will catch on in Bellevue and hopefully infect all of the Northwest,” said Austin Welsch, a supporter of the group ‘Working Washington.’”
Malcolm works at McDonald's. He engaged in civil disobedience because he's willing to do whatever is takes to defend & expand $15.
Seattle won $15 but the movement to strike poverty isn’t over yet. The International Franchise Association is suing to overturn our minimum wage law because they think it’s not fair to McDonald’s, and Tim Eyman wants more than $1 million to try and take away the power cities have to raise wages.
Read More“As fast-food workers demonstrate nationwide for a $15 hourly wage, and congressional Republicans fight off a $10 federal minimum, little SeaTac has something to offer the debate. Its neighbor, Seattle, was the first big city to approve a $15 wage, this spring, but that doesn’t start phasing in until next year. SeaTac did it all at once. And, though there’s nothing definitive, this much is clear: The sky did not fall.”
“I’m 43 years old, probably not ever going to be able to buy a house, but at least I’ll be a little more comfortable in my own surroundings.”
McDonald’s Corporation and franchisees tie the knot, take joint responsibility for employees
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It’s official. Workers at Bags, who serve Alaska Airlines customers, at Sea-Tac Airport celebrated as the votes were counted in a union election. We won!
Read MoreKing County Elections has now reviewed well over half of the referendum petitions submitted by Forward Seattle, and their fringe effort to repeal the minimum wage law has come up short. So far, 15,004 of Forward Seattle’s 18,928 petition signatures have been reviewed, and only 11,412 have been validated as legitimate signatures from actual voters — a 76% verification rate. At this point, Forward Seattle could not meet the minimum standard of 16,510 valid signatures even if every single one of the 3,924 remaining signatures were verified.
The numbers are clear: Forward Seattle’s minimum wage repeal will not qualify for the ballot. Our phased-in $15 minimum wage law will take effect as passed unanimously by the City Council and signed into law by the Mayor.
“Getting $15 will change my life because I wouldn’t feel like I’m in debt with everybody,” said Terran Lyons, a Seattle McDonald’s worker and a leader with Working Washington. “I could pay my bills on time and give my kids what they need. If my son loses his shoe when he’s playing outside, I won’t have to be worried about how I can buy him a new pair.”
Support for the $15 minimum wage law is so strong in Seattle that once word got out to the public that Forward Seattle was using misleading tactics to try and repeal the minimum wage, signature gathering ground to a halt — even moving in reverse as hundreds of people formally withdrew their signatures from the referendum in the final hours.
Seattle made history by taking on the crisis of income inequality with a $15 minimum wage will help ensure everyone can support themselves, afford the basics, and contribute to the economy. It will raise up Seattle’s 100,000 low-wage workers, providing a $3 billion boost to the economy over the next decade that will generate abundant opportunities for every business that is looking to bring in more customers.
The first raises under Seattle’s minimum wage law take effect April 1, 2015, and the first group of Seattle workers reaches $15/hour on January 1, 2017.
Summary from King County Elections:
Referendum No. 2 (Forward Seattle)
Number of signatures submitted 18,928
Number of signatures reviewed 15,004
Number of signatures verified 11,412
Good news: you have one last chance to withdraw your signature if you signed the referendum to repeal the minimum wage. The City Clerk is willing to accept withdrawn signatures by email — and we created a form to make it easy.
Read MoreWorking Washington | 719 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA, 98104, United States
