Seattle Group Seeks Vote For Historic Minimum Wage

Bolstered by a wave of national efforts to raise the minimum wage – including recent signals from President Obama that he plans to push for higher wages nation-wide – labor activists in Seattle kicked off a campaign to institute a $15-per-hour minimum wage in the city. Nearby Seatac is set to go to court after a measure to institute a $15-per-hour minimum wage passed in November. Washington, already offering the highest minimum wage in the country at $9.32 per hour, is a state with a reputation for being friendly to labor movements, and could set national precedent if Seatac prevails in court, or Seattle’s 15 Now group gets its measure on the city’s ballot in 2014. It is likely to meet stiff opposition from business groups, including the Washington Restaurant Association, whose president and CEO says that Washington restaurants already have the highest labor costs in the country.