Businessweek has a fascinating story about how Ed Murray’s recent proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour came to be. I think it understates the importance of Ksama Sawant’s election to the city council and her effect at setting the tone and terms of debate (she’s not even mentioned), but it’s an instructive look at when “Seattle Process” actually works. It notes:
Murray gave the group four months to work out a deal. If they failed, he vowed to present the city council with his own proposal, which both sides were sure to hate. He chose April 30 as a deadline because May is when outside groups that propose ballot initiatives typically start gathering signatures.
Local business leaders decided that joining the effort was in their best interest. “There is no doubt in my mind that this $15 is coming to Seattle,” says (committee member and founder of Seattle Hospitality Group Howard) Wright. “So if we accept that as a premise, let’s figure out how to do it well.” Labor leaders in the group wanted a pay increase to take effect quickly; business owners wanted to phase it in over many years. Labor insisted that tips and benefits not count as part of someone’s wages; businesses thought they should be able to pay lower hourly rates if they provided other compensation such as retirement contributions. Everyone thought small businesses should get extra time to comply, but no one agreed on how to define “small.”
A month before the deadline, Murray narrowed the group to eight negotiators. The G8, as they became known, took over several rooms in the mayor’s office. A breakthrough came on April 14, when someone—the person asked not to be named, (president of a local SEIU Healthcare union David) Rolf says—sketched out a chart showing how a proposed compromise would let wages at different workplaces rise at different rates. Businesses could count tips and health care in calculating minimum pay for workers, but only temporarily. Eventually those concessions would phase out and every employer would have to pay the same minimum wage. “You could see the body language in the room change,” says Rolf.
The jury is still out on Ed Murray as a mayor and leader (I believe he badly mishandled SPD misconduct cases and reform and his opposition to a measure to help stave off draconian Metro cuts reeks of pettiness), but I think he deserves a lot of credit here for not letting the idea be slowly killed in the process. At one point, it looked like restaurant servers were being pitted against other low-wage workers to kill the measure. That didn’t happen, and it’s the first real significant “win” in Murray’s short time at mayor.
A lot of things can happen because this is only a proposal that hasn’t been voted on by the City Council, but the Seattle Process looks like it could be a model for how other governments can accomplish big things. God help us all.
