May 07 Fast food employees look to strike internationally on May 15 By Justin Scuiletti Fast-food workers announced their intention Wednesday to launch an international strike across 33 countries for better working conditions and pay. Continue reading
May 01 OK, $15 an hour minimum wage in Seattle, but plus tips? By Tom Douglas Should Seattle waiters really receive a higher minimum wage when they earn tips on top of what's already the highest minimum wage in the country? Restaurant owner Tom Douglas, who voluntarily instituted a $15 wage for his cooks, doesn't think… Continue reading
Apr 30 Watch Seattle restaurant industry caught in the middle of $15 minimum wage debate By PBS News Hour Continue watching
Apr 30 Restaurant owners caught between their morals and the market By John Platt John Platt quit his job as a school principal to work as waiter, then opened his own restaurant where he feeds the homeless every month. He fancies himself a liberal. But a $15 minimum wage? He's having none of it. Continue reading
Apr 28 Congress returns to full plate, if it chooses to do anything with it By Terence Burlij, Domenico Montanaro, Rachel Wellford, Simone Pathe Lawmakers return to Washington Monday after a two-week recess with a long list of issues demanding their attention, but with a limited appetite for addressing any major pieces of legislation in advance of November’s midterm elections. Continue reading
Apr 25 How nonprofit workers get squeezed when minimum wages increase By Paul Tipps, Jesse Inman Nonprofit workers like those at Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Service Center don’t want to be left out of the fight for a higher minimum wage but also realize that higher wages could come at the expense of some of their jobs… Continue reading
Apr 25 The missing piece of the minimum wage and inequality debate By Bill Hobson Nonprofit leader Bill Hobson is personally supportive of a $15 an hour minimum wage. But he knows his human services agency doesn't have the resources to pay their employees more without trimming staff and ultimately, cutting services Seattle's homeless depend… Continue reading
Apr 22 Watch How much does it really cost to live in a city like Seattle? By PBS News Hour In Seattle, there is a growing push to raise the minimum wage 62 percent to $15 an hour, which the University of Washington has calculated as the minimum cost of living for an adult with one child. But would the… Continue watching
Apr 17 Watch SeaTac airport workers fight exclusion from $15 minimum wage By PBS News Hour In SeaTac, Wash., home of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, citizens voted last year to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. However, a court decision — now being appealed — has excluded the 5,000 or so workers on airport… Continue watching
Apr 16 Proposed minimum wage hikes still won't benefit workers in exempt jobs By Alan Fram, Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Some low-paid workers won't benefit even if a long-shot Democratic proposal to raise the federal minimum wage becomes law. More than a dozen categories of jobs are exempt from the minimum, currently $7.25 an hour. Those exclusions, rooted… Continue reading