Produced by:
KBOO
Program::
Air date:
Thu, 05/29/2014 - 12:00am
Seattle Minimum Wage Vote
This morning the Seattle City Council’s Committee on Minimum Wage and Income Inequality approved an ordinance that would increase Seattle’s minimum wage to fifteen dollars.
The ordinance will go before the full council next week.
The committee declined to speed up the slow phase-in of the ordinance, which gives most businesses three or more years to raise their wages.
The ordinance includes a number of contentious amendments, including a sub-minimum wage for teenagers and health-care credits for businesses that provide insurance.
The energy surrounding the push for a higher minimum wage in Seattle stems largely from grassroots organizing and the election of Socialist candidate Kshama Sawant to the Council on a platform that prominently included a fifteen-dollar minimum wage.
Nicholas Caleb, a Columbia University professor, ran unsuccessfully for Portland City Council on a similar platform in last week’s primary election.
Caleb spoke with KBOO’s Sam Bouman this afternoon about Seattle’s proposed ordinance and the ongoing push for a wage increase in Portland.
The ordinance will go before the full council next week.
The committee declined to speed up the slow phase-in of the ordinance, which gives most businesses three or more years to raise their wages.
The ordinance includes a number of contentious amendments, including a sub-minimum wage for teenagers and health-care credits for businesses that provide insurance.
The energy surrounding the push for a higher minimum wage in Seattle stems largely from grassroots organizing and the election of Socialist candidate Kshama Sawant to the Council on a platform that prominently included a fifteen-dollar minimum wage.
Nicholas Caleb, a Columbia University professor, ran unsuccessfully for Portland City Council on a similar platform in last week’s primary election.
Caleb spoke with KBOO’s Sam Bouman this afternoon about Seattle’s proposed ordinance and the ongoing push for a wage increase in Portland.
- KBOO
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