But the bill faced a fair share of opposition. It is both a very wealthy city with fairly liberal politics - ranging from socially liberal businesspeople to a democratic socialist on the city council - and a high level of union penetration and a history of disruptive labor activism that goes back to its 1919 general strike.
Seattle was a natural place for this progressive policy to pass. It’s one reason why the minimum wage has stayed so low nationally. While minimum wage increases are generally popular with voters, they also tend to kick up extreme opposition from business owners, who warn of massive job losses and killing off new businesses. It remains one of the highest in the country, and a useful case study as we head into a presidential election where a higher minimum wage has become the standard policy position for Democratic candidates.Īt the time the Seattle bill was passed, the federal minimum wage had stagnated at $7.25 since 2009, where it still is today. Today, Seattle’s wage is at $16 for large employers, and $15 for all other employers (unless they provide a certain level of medical benefits or employee tips, which allows them to knock it down to $12 an hour). “Worker voices and folks taking to the street shifted the conversation about it and made the policy feasible,” Rachel Lauter, the executive director of Working Washington, an activist group that helped organize the protests, said. By 2021, at which time the $15 wage would be phased in for all employers, it would be the highest minimum wage in the country, well north of Washington’s already relatively high wage of just over $9. Seattle’s minimum wage hike, which would jack up wages to $15 an hour by 2017 for companies with more than 500 employees, was passed five years ago by the City Council. The walkouts would eventually help lead to Seattle passing a historic policy that continues to serve as an example to politicians and researchers to this day. “It’s easy to not think about the person serving you your food.” The very next day, a Burger King, two Subways, and a Chipotle all shut down after employees continued to walk out.ĭurocher was part of a nationwide wave of labor activism among the traditionally scattered and disorganized fast-food workforce, made up of largely low-wage workers at the mercy of fast-food franchise owners who set their schedules and pay. “What we’re getting right now isn’t fair and not right,” she told the Stranger, in reference to her wage of $9.19 an hour, then the city-wide minimum wage.
One of them was Caroline Durocher, a 21-year-old Taco Bell employee, who said the decision was “easy.” All three employees and one off-shift worker walked off the job to protest low wages and work conditions. We've earned trusted relationships with our audiences by meeting them in the right context - with respect and intent.Looking at the nation’s most intriguing experiments in local policy.Ī Taco Bell in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle shut down a couple hours early in the spring of 2013.
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