[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Letter to the Editor, written and submitted by verified resident. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of South King Media, nor its staff.]
The city’s recent ad campaign for its new minimum wage ordinance touts Burien’s new wage as the highest in the nation without mentioning significant details that will limit the ordinance’s benefit to workers. The tip and healthcare penalties are not mentioned anywhere in the ad, the mailers sent to every Burien resident, or the city’s own minimum wage website. Only the separate FAQ document includes these details.
These resources should help employers and employees understand how this law affects them and how to comply or hold someone accountable for noncompliance. Instead, the city’s communications all focus on the process the city went through with the Business & Economic Development Partnership (BEDP) to illustrate how collaborative they were so they can congratulate themselves but don’t spend any time at all breaking down the details of how the law will be enforced or enacted.
The council majority passed an ordinance that pretends to raise wages but actually excludes most workers. Anyone who gets tips or medical benefits, and even some people who work for multinational corporations, may not qualify for a raise.
Burien deserves to know the facts: that the “nation’s highest” new wage only applies to businesses with 500 or more full-time equivalents (FTEs) in King County and can be reduced by tips and the costs of employer-provided health benefits. Unlike all other jurisdictions’ minimum wage laws, franchises are treated like independent businesses, so even McDonald’s and Wendy’s workers probably won’t qualify. Workers at businesses with 20 or fewer FTEs won’t see any raise at all and will continue to earn thousands of dollars a year less than workers at similar businesses in neighboring White Center and Seattle.
We agree with the city that raising the minimum wage is good for our community. However, the city should be honest about the exceptions in the current ordinance and clearly communicate those exceptions so that workers understand what is due to them.
– Kelsey Vanhee
Boulevard Park, Burien
– Stephen Lamphear
Shorewood, Burien
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Exempting small business is just demonstrable corruption on the part of our Yes voting council members.
There is no practical reason to exempt small businesses from this requirement, if you actually understand the purpose of a minimum wage.
Stand with workers and reject this garbage that our council forced upon us, and vote for the increase in February.
Why dont the letter writers realize that personal responsibility as an employee is not Burien’s job, employment conditions are between you and your boss. Any employee who doesn’t advocate for themselves and only accepts the status quo is failing job #1, you.
Why are the activists so deceptive? First they promote a deceptive initiative that falsely tells people that the initiative will Burien’s minimum wage from $16.28 to $21.10 per hour for large businesses. But starting in January, the Burien minimum wage for large businesses will already be $21.10 per hour. So the initiate won’t raise the minimum wage at all.
And there is no such thing as a tip or healthcare penalty. The minimum compensation rules only apply to medium sized businesses, like our local restaurants. What they do, like any composition package, is allow workers to get benefits like healthcare at a much less expensive rate than they could otherwise (employer purchased health care is much cheaper than buying equivalent healthcare as an individual). This clause encourages employers to provide healthcare and saves employees who get healthcare a lot of money, much more than the small credit the employer gets. This is great for workers and our community. Everyone is guaranteed to have compensation that matches the required minimum wage.
As for how the law will be enforced, it will be enforced as most labor laws, through government agencies. But the initiative sidesteps this enforcement and instead encourages employees to file class action lawsuits, which will make doing business in Burien very difficult and will only serve to enrich attorneys and clog the courts vs helping workers get paid fairly.
Stephen also incorrectly claims this law won’t apply to most workers. First, the law clearly applies to all workers. At the smallest local businesses workers must still be paid the Washington State minimum wage, the highest state minimum wage in the US. And the fact is that most workers in Burien work for large businesses like healthcare companies, grocery chains, and large retailers.
What Stephen isn’t telling people is that the initiative takes legislative power away from the elected officials in Burien and puts in the hands of Tukwila’s City Council. And that’s just weird. These activists don’t agree with the majority of Burien voters so they want to take power away from us, just like how they support the King County Sheriff telling Burien police not to enforce our laws.
I’ve personally had enough of the radical outside Burien socialist groups trying to take power away from Burien’s voters. We know what’s best for Burien.
Hey Freddy, perhaps you should read the initiative and the city’s ordinance. I love being called a radical because I’m working in Burien’s best interests. When I was on the council, I was called a communist. People lacking knowledge of what they speak are left with name-calling and falsehoods.
Stephen
Being called a radical, communist, progressive, leftist or liberal is nothing to be proud of because it shows you are unwilling to accept others points of view. You think that by being outspoken you are doing your part to drive change, when in fact it only shows how you refuse to except the new reality of the voter and improvements happening in Burien.
Here’s another downside. I was kicked off of Apple Health (Medicare) because I now make about $30 a month more than the wage limit. My estimated payment for healthcare next year is projected to be about $1,000 a month instead of basically $0 that I paid with Apple Health. There is no possible way I can afford that. Thanks Burien.
Actually, that’s not true either. As someone who also makes slightly too much to qualify for Apple Health, you do still qualify for subsidized healthcare, for which I pay $0 in monthly premiums. As long as Trump doesn’t abolish the healthcare exchanges of course.
Sounds like what happens when your making progress in your job, get a raise by whatever means and better your situation. You shouldn’t expect to continue to get subsistence when you raise your standard of living, life costs and you need more money obviously.