The city of Burien on Monday approved a minimum wage hike, but local organizers say exemptions in the new ordinance mean many low-wage workers will not see a pay bump.
Local and state chamber of commerce representatives praised the ordinance during the Monday City Council meeting, saying it strikes a fair balance of accommodating worker needs and business concerns.
“Your work has resulted in a policy that will support workers while mitigating the impacts to local businesses,” Annie McGrath, president and CEO of the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce, said during public comment.
But organizers with Raise the Wage Burien argue that a majority of minimum wage workers will see no difference in their pay because of exemptions in the ordinance, such as allowing businesses to use tips and benefits to count toward a worker’s required $2-$3 pay bump.
Under the city’s new minimum wage ordinance, starting January 2025, large businesses and franchises will be required to pay $3 more than the state’s minimum wage, currently set at $16.28 an hour.
Smaller employers must pay $2 more than the state’s minimum wage starting in July 2025. Businesses with fewer than 21 employees are exempt from the city ordinance.
The city does not have an estimate on how many workers will ultimately see a pay bump because of the new minimum wage ordinance, according to city spokesperson Devin Chicras.
Organizers have begun collecting signatures for a citizen-led ballot initiative that would supersede the new ordinance and raise the wage for more workers.
The campaign is backed by a similar coalition of organizations that has pushed other recent citizen-initiated ballot initiatives in Tukwila and Renton.
Under their proposal, Burien’s city minimum wage rate must match Tukwila’s rate — currently set at $20.29 an hour for large employers and $18.29 an hour for midsize employers.
Tukwila’s wage floor was approved by voters in 2022 with about 82 percent of the vote, and Renton’s was approved in February with about 58 percent of the vote.
“The people who are working minimum wage are disproportionately women, people of color, families struggling to support kids,” said Katie Wilson, general secretary of the Transit Riders Union and campaign coordinator for Raise the Wage Burien. “People who work in Burien should be able to live in Burien.”
The city’s ordinance passed during the council’s Monday meeting by a 4-1 vote, with council members Hugo Garcia and Sarah Moore abstaining.
Garcia said he was disappointed by exemptions in the ordinance, particularly allowing tips to be counted toward the wage increase and franchise owners to classify as small businesses.
For example, a minimum-wage restaurant worker who earns more than $2 an hour in tips might not see a change in their pay, Garcia said. Individual franchise owners with several stores in King County employing mostly part-time workers might also be exempt from paying the city’s minimum wage rate.
“I’m an immigrant raised on the salary of a minimum wage, front-of-house restaurant worker,” Garcia said. “I understand those same pressures of higher rent, higher food costs (for businesses), but I’m also aware that what we passed is not enough” for workers.
Critics of minimum wage increases argue that hikes may lead to job cuts, reduced benefits or fewer hours for workers, and put extra pressure on local businesses with small profit margins.
But many minimum wage workers already regularly see their hours fluctuate or cut at the whims of employers, said Arc Di, who gets paid $16.53 an hour at a grocery store in Burien.
The higher minimum wage in Burien outlined in the proposed ballot initiative would be “a step toward stability,” said Di, a member of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 3000 and an organizer behind the Tukwila campaign.
“Everyone needs to live. Everyone needs food in their belly. Everyone needs shelter,” Di said. “A higher wage is a big difference between eating spaghetti for the week, and getting fresh produce and fresh meat in the diet.”
Research has generally found that raising the minimum wage does not result in widespread job losses and leads to a typically small or negligible increase in consumer prices. In addition to helping alleviate debt for some households, hikes can have a cascading effect of lifting wages for other low-income earners.
To qualify for the November ballot, organizers behind Raise the Wage Burien hope to submit petition signatures to the county elections office by May.
