Council Claws Back At Minimum Wage

Tries to Throw Tipped Workers Under the Bus

Quiet Quitters No More?

It’s become an open secret among city insiders that the current council is, so far, inadequate to the basic tasks of governing. But after all these months the quiet quitters finally seem ready to do the conservative stuff they tried really hard to pretend they weren’t going to do during the election.

Party Like It’s 1985

Among their big plans–after a previous failed effort to gut minimum wage for delivery workers, the council looks likely to cut back on minimum wages for tip-earners instead. Not only is this a direct attack on workers, but taking this route is reneging in bad faith on a deal cut between labor and business. 

Ten years ago when the $15 minimum wage was put in place, political leaders that actually practiced good governance rather than just prattled on about it worked together to hammer out a careful compromise. Businesses with fewer than 500 workers were given a decade to fully adjust their base wage to catch up. That decade is now just about finished and the council looks likely to blow up the deal.

What Are They Thinking?

This is a foolish mistake.

First, fighting against the minimum wage is bad policy. 

After decades of armchair speculation about how high minimum wages would somehow destroy labor markets, it turns out they don’t, especially in markets with high degrees of business concentration. Unsurprisingly, the people who still peddle outdated economic stories about minimum wages and feign all kinds of concern about those poor workers are the people who pay the wages, not the people earning them.

Second, it is even worse politics. 

The council seems determined to attack another core pillar of Democratic party priorities in a dark blue city in a blue hued state. 

Washington is also among the most union-organized and worker-friendly states in the country–and that means workers have political power that they will use if they are attacked aggressively. Heck, even in red states, big minimum wage increases are extremely popular. So pretty much all the people that don’t give money to dark-money PACs are going to hate it. 

In fact, these sustained attacks on workers and in this case, reneging on a hard-won deal, seems likely to enrage organized labor. Many of the most powerful unions have directed their energy toward state politics in the last few years. But the city council seems determined to poke the bear. David Rolf, the founding head of SEIU 775, who played a key role in the deal, responded clearly that “undermining Seattle’s minimum wage law is political suicide for anyone who tries.” 

Why This Might Pass When Nelson’s Attempt Appears to Have Failed

Sara Nelson tried something similar a few months ago with delivery drivers. But her attempt has languished for a few reasons that may not be in play with this latest round of wage-cutting.

Most importantly, Nelson is clumsy and didn’t count on conflicts of interests that might reduce her vote count. In fact, it seems she didn’t even bother to count votes. Instead, she misread the political moment and took orders straight from industry lobbyists, making it abundantly clear that she was on the side of plutocrats. Somehow she managed to fail at her first piece of legislation, when the council had its maximum political capital.

But this time may be different. The bill was introduced by Joy Hollingsworth, who has been reluctant to sign onto Nelson’s bill, which changes the vote tally. It also means the other holdout from that bill–Cathy Moore, may be more open to Hollingsworth’s version. 

This wage cut is an easier story to spin–since it is killing an upcoming raise, rather than cutting a raise that has already happened, and tips can supplement their income. Hollingsworth also has a longstanding relationship with the Mayor, and is frankly quite a bit smarter than Nelson, so she probably bothered to have a conversation with him before she started pushing this legislation. Mayor Harrell, for his part, may be eager to embarrass Nelson as well, since it has become something of an open secret that she wants to run against him and has attempted to make him look bad. 

Surprised By Joy’s Position

For my part, I’m disappointed that Joy Hollingsworth picked this to run with. She has shown herself to be something of a maverick–and is a gifted politician who I believe means the best for this city. 

There are many things I disagree with her about–but unlike the council members who more openly embrace Republican tax and labor policy (Sara Nelson, Tanya Woo, Bob Kettle, Maritza Rivera–I’m looking at you)--Joy’s positions on taxes and labor tend to align with those of an actual moderate Democrat. 

And while I’m guessing she is pursuing this particular legislation because of her passion for small business owners–I think there are lots better ways to help small business owners build wealth than by using public policy to suppress the wages of the people who work for them.

It is also worth noting that she received a lot of support from labor–which likely played a big role in how her district understood her candidacy–and whether she got the job. That she would turn on them so directly and so soon seems both unwise and uncalled for.

I hope she considers walking away from this one.