While saying her chances of getting elected are not great, she is pushing the rise in the minimum wage and said she is hearing about it on the campaign trail.Īn alternative, yet politically mighty, weekly newspaper, the Stranger, has endorsed her idea. One Seattle City council candidate has made the topic the centerpiece of her campaign.Įconomist Kshama Sawant is basing her campaign on similar efforts in New York City and Washington, D.C. Pushing it forward before it can actually pass would kill he idea, he said. One of the council’s most liberal members, he said there are other issues the council should tackle to help low-wage workers, including wage theft and affordable housing. This tiny 20-seat L-shaped cocktail bar squirreled away on Roy provides a drink connoisseurs getaway from the pre-game and post-concert bar crowds with a crew of veterans. GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI Show More Show Less. Wildrose, which opened in 1984, is the only remaining lesbian bar in Seattle. I honestly don’t know how they make it,” said Durocher, who sleeps on her father’s couch.Ĭity Council member Nick Licata doesn’t expect the issue to get any official traction soon. 3 of 59 4 of 59 Women dance together at Wildrose, Saturday, Aug. She has been working at a Seattle Subway restaurant for about a month, since she was fired by another chain shortly after participating in the minimum wage strike. One of those affected by a potential wage increase is Caroline Durocher, 21, who has been working low-wage jobs since high school. His research has shown that even a large increase in wages, like the proposal in Seattle, has only a 4 to 5 percent effect on prices. But in the entire economy, when you increase income to low-wage workers, it creates jobs because those workers are likely to spend their additional income and that increases demand for goods and services.īenner also doubts a higher minimum wage would affect prices enough to scare away consumers. “There may be some job impact in those small businesses themselves,” he said. San Francisco currently has the highest minimum wage for all workers at $10.50 an hour.Įconomist Chris Benner of the University of California at Davis does not agree that a higher minimum wage would lead to job losses. More than 15 million workers earn the national minimum wage, making about $15,080 a year - $50 below the federal poverty line for a family of two. They cite Wal-Mart, which has all but refused to accept a Washington, D.C., decision to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour in big box stores.Ī higher minimum wage eliminates low wage jobs because that’s how small businesses cut costs and that ends up hurting the people it was supposed to benefit, according to the U.S. The Seattle Gay Clinic was founded in 1979 as a safe space for gay men to. Some businesses advocates say a higher minimum wage will make it harder for companies in Seattle to survive. Gay bar and bathhouse owners formed the Queen City Business Guild in the 1960s. After their convictions, another man confessed to the crime, the eyewitness recanted her. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu The men were sentenced to death but maintained their innocence.