With a unanimous 7-0 vote today, the Seattle City Council passed out of committee a modified ordinance raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 for employees at some large businesses by 2017, with all other workers being phased in to an inflation adjusted equivalent by 2025. Despite a series of amendments weakening the proposal, and her strident advocacy for $15 Now, Socialist council member Kshama Sawant voted “yes.” So much for her being unable to compromise.
The council will officially vote on the ordinance at its Monday meeting, but that is just a formality. A $15 minimum wage has passed in Seattle.
An amendment giving city regulators authority to approve a teen sub-minimum wage mirroring that of the state (currently 85% of minimum for workers under age 16) was approved 4-3, with Sawant, Mike O’Brien, and Sally Bagshaw voting no. An amendment moving the start date from January 1, 2015 to April 1, 2015 also passed 4-3, with Sawant, O’Brien, and Harrell voting no. (Council members Nick Licata and Tom Rasmussen were both absent and on vacation.)
That said, several Sawant and O’Brien amendments strengthening enforcement did pass the council, as did a Sally Clark amendment that removed adjustment formulas for wage schedules post-2018 and replaced them with a hard schedule based on a presumed 2.4 percent inflation rate. Since inflation will likely average less than 2.4 percent over the next decade, this latter amendment will likely prove a minor net plus for workers.
This ordinance is far from perfect. But it is historic, as is the fact that it will pass the council by a unanimous vote. Furthermore, it is now possible that the ordinance might not see any serious challenge at ballot box. With Sawant on board, $15 Now will likely drop its initiative and pivot to defending the ordinance while pushing the movement nationwide. Meanwhile, the business-backed One Seattle has reportedly decided not to file an opposing initiative of its own.
So I guess a $15 minimum wage is “thinkable” after all.
National (and international) headlines will likely tout this as “the highest minimum wage in the world.” Well, maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised if our wage is surpassed by the time the first workers hit $15 in 2017, let alone by the time the wage is fully phased in in 2025. But Seattleites should kvell with pride at our leadership on this issue, and the role we’re playing in improving the lives of the working poor nationwide.
There is a part of me that is disappointed that Councilwoman Sawant did agree to the final proposal with all its watering down of the original compromise, its push back of the starting date of application, and the training wage. It does make her look like she used working class people to gain attention, only to back away at the last moment. She, in my opinion, should have opposed the final agreement and went ahead with the initiative, just to move the debate further to the Left.
Nevertheless, that she acted at all is a testimonial to what will indeed happen, which will still be a significant improvement for working Seattleans….and still could become a model for wage battles nationwide. Though she’ll probably get ignored while more established liberal icons get all the high-fives and credit, it was her work that got even this ordinance passed. All props to her, even with my misgivings that this should be only the beginning, not the end.
It’s just the beginning, even without more legislature. With big business having to pay more, the business folks who can delay will have trouble finding decent employees willing to work for less. The improving business climate in the state will make the labor market even more competitive.
No, more folks having enough income to survive doesn’t cause inflation. Even at the peak of the 2000 and 2008 economies, we only hit 3.4% and 3.8% respectively. That included higher fuel costs, which will be less of a problem as we become self reliant in that area.
Historically stupid.
Not long ago, someone on HA – I can’t recall exactly who – wrote:
So if that’s part of your proposal Ed, no patting yourself on the back for negotiating a compromise that gets us to a $15 minimum wage. Because you didn’t.
So patting on the back for participation in successful compromise is out. However, kvelling with pride? Oh, yeah. That’s totally in.
How does Brad Smith’s asshole taste? Ask the Seattle Times editors.
http://horsesass.org/seattle-t.....y-created/
How does Kshama Sawant’s asshole taste? Well, we know who to ask about that, now.
Seriously, for those on the left who fought for a significant increase in Seattle’s minimum wage, it looks like you got a substantial majority of what you wanted, and you should be congratulated on a successful effort. All of you.
This is an incredible moment. The “watering down” was far lighter than feared. No permanent tip credit, no permanent total compensation, no sub-minimum training wage.
It’s impressive to watch Sawant and 15Now operate. Their strategy in getting this bill passed, and preventing any substantial weakening, shows how progressive action in this city and elsewhere needs to be approached. They didn’t compromise with themselves. They always presented a real threat in case of collapsed negotiations (and their backup ballot plan is even less business-friendly, making the threat all the more fearsome to opponents). Sawant pushed strengthening amendments to the end. And ultimately, Sawant supported the compromise plan which was probably 90% of what she and 15Now initially wanted.
Sawant still isn’t taken seriously by establishment folks. Sawant’s opponents seem to think that she’s a complete nutcase and will start quoting Marx at Council meetings any day now. If she keeps succeeding in pushing progressive change, her opponents will have to start taking her more seriously. But I’d wager for now that Sawant doesn’t mind being underestimated.
Strategically and tactically, this was a rout for Sawant and 15Now. Great work! I’m very proud of what’s happening today.
re 4 — “How does Kshama Sawant’s asshole taste?” Like Almond Roca? Why would you ask such a thing?
The disabled worker provision seems fucked, unless I’ve read it wrong somehow.
@3 Actually, according to data from payroll company Paychex, Seattle, already with one of the highest minimum wages in the country, has one of the highest rates of small business job growth in the nation (second only to San Francisco, the city with the highest minimum wage).
So I’d say we’re far from lame or stupid.
“Since inflation will likely average less than 2.4 percent over the next decade …”
I wouldn’t stick my neck out that far.
@2 “No, more folks having enough income to survive doesn’t cause inflation. Even at the peak of the 2000 and 2008 economies, we only hit 3.4% and 3.8% respectively. That included higher fuel costs, which will be less of a problem as we become self reliant in that area.”
Inflation is caused by money supply expansion, and money supply expands through increased bank lending, which is why the $3.8 trillion “printed” by the Federal Reserve hasn’t caused inflation — it’s just sitting as excess bank reserves and never got into the economy.
If you think fracking will make us energy independent, you are mistaken. Fracked wells have a depletion rate of up to 80%, compared to 2% to 4% for a conventional well. Plus, the EIA just wrote off 95% of the Monterey Shale, the largest U.S. shale oil deposit, as unrecoverable. Fracking isn’t a flash in the pan, but it’s probably a 10-year energy supply, not a 100-year energy supply. And fracked oil is not cheap oil. A fracking well costs $20 million or more. It takes $80/bbl crude prices to make fracking pay. And $2 fracked gas is no more; U.S. natural gas is pushing toward $5 and many gas fracking wells have been capped because you can’t sell fracked gas for $2 or $3 and make a profit. Fracked energy is expensive temporary energy.
@4 As a radiologist I’m sure you have a lifetime familiarity with assholes that has eluded the rest of us.
“@4 As a radiologist I’m sure you have a lifetime familiarity with assholes that has eluded the rest of us.”
…and some sort of prurient interest in their flavor that also eludes the rest of us!