Hollingsworth withdraws bill that would have slowed minimum wage increases
Aug 3, 2024, 5:20 PM | Updated: 5:51 pm
Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth has decided to withdraw a bill she introduced just a week ago, which aimed to slow the city’s minimum wage increase for small businesses next year.
According to the Seattle Times, this decision follows significant backlash from those who wanted to see the law enacted as is. Critics accused Hollingsworth of betraying low-wage workers and breaking a decade-old agreement.
Seattle’s minimum wage deal was a significant agreement between business and labor leaders. The deal, struck in 2014, established a phased-in approach to raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. For businesses with 500 or fewer employees, there was a 10-year phase-in period, allowing them to credit tips and benefits towards the minimum wage. This effectively meant these smaller businesses could pay a lower rate compared to larger businesses.
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This phased approach was designed to give smaller businesses more time to adjust to the higher wage requirements. However, this credit is set to expire next year, which will eliminate the two-tier system and result in a more than $3 per hour increase in the base pay rate for many establishments. This upcoming change has sparked renewed debate and concern among small business owners and workers alike.
“What we’re trying to do is continue to save jobs, ensure that businesses can take this impact as well and make sure that also workers are going to get the minimum wage payment,” Hollingsworth said on KIRO Newsradio before her decision to withdraw. “But we want to make sure that we’re doing it in a way that’s very thoughtful, and that our small businesses can be able to provide those jobs.”
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The latest move is likely to disappoint many small business owners in Seattle, especially those in the restaurant industry. They have expressed concerns that the more than $3 per hour wage increase next year could be devastating for their businesses, which have already faced challenges since the pandemic.
The scheduled removal of a credit next year will eliminate the current two-tier system, effectively raising the base pay rate by more than $3 per hour for many businesses, when combined with the usual annual adjustments.
Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.
