Don’t really know why anybody should be surprised that Mayor Ed Murray’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee would “fail to reach a consensus” on raising Seattle’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Murray filled the room with business owners and low-wage worker advocates. If there was an easy consensus to reach between these two camps, government coercion wouldn’t be necessary. And let’s be clear: a minimum wage is government coercion.
It was worth trying. And the conversation was worth having. But consensus never seemed a likely outcome.
And so Murray will pick and choose from the committee’s ideas and put forth his own proposal today. And then the folks who really get to write the ordinance—the city council—will get to work.
UPDATE: The mayor’s 1:15 pm press conference has been bumped to 3 pm. Is he hoping to achieve “consensus” after all?