A campaign calling itself “Raise up Washington” filed an initiative today to raise Washington’s minimum wage to $13.50 an hour. The initiative was also supported by the trade union organization the Washington State Labor Council.
If passed, this effort would raise the minimum wage gradually over the next four years from its current level of $9.47 an hour. It would also give employees an hour of sick leave for every 40 hours they work, adding up to about a week a year of sick leave.
The initiative will need to attract a little under 250,000 valid signatures by July, if it’s to be included on the ballot in November 2016 – though the Washingotn Secretary of State's staff recommends at least 325,000 signatures to account for invalid ones. Seattle, Tacoma and Sea-Tac passed laws to raise their minimum wages in the last few years above the state level — and well above the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.
Opposition to the proposed increase came from the Association of Washington Businesses (AWB), which opposes a statewide minimum wage. According to Bob Battles, general counsel and director of government affairs for AWB, AWB believes wages will harm small businesses and manufacturers who have to compete with overseas businesses. “Every time you put on a cost to a small business, they have to absorb that cost…that money has got to come from somewhere,” he said. However, Battles said AWB would like to be part of future discussions around wage increases.
Battles said AWB would support bills like one Republican Rep. Drew MacEwen of Union introduced today, which would make make healthcare benefits count toward total compensation for workers under 18, effectively lowering the wages for minors. AWB would like non-wage compensation like 401k, scholarships and education to be acknowledged as ways of compensating employees.
