EVERETT — For the second time in less than a week, supporters of a mininum wage increase submitted signatures to have their initiative considered for the November ballot.
On Monday, organizers from Raise the Wage Responsibly submitted 2,600 signatures to the city clerk’s office. On Thursday, Everett Deserves a Raise submitted signatures for its own ballot measure.
Each proposal would raise the minimum wage at large businesses from $16.28 to $20.24 in Everett, further adjust wages based on inflation and require that businesses offer additional hours to current employees before hiring new employees.
Under each proposal, employers with fewer than 15 employees or those that make $2 million or less in annual gross revenue would be exempt.
Where Raise the Wage Responsibly differs are provisions it says are designed to protect small businesses with more than 15 employees, primarily by factoring “additional compensation,” such as tips, insurance and other benefits, into wages.
“This seems like getting the balance right between what is good for employees and what’s workable and sustainable for employers while still hitting that same target that you see in the Everett Deserves a Raise proposal,” said Jeffrey Reading, a spokesperson for Raise the Wage Responsibly.
The language in the Raise the Wage Responsibly proposal “doesn’t cause small employers a burdensome set of choices,” Reading said.
The measures would both take effect July 1, 2025, for large businesses with more than 500 employees, and be phased in over two years for other businesses with 15-500 employees.
The Washington Hospitality Association, a trade group representing more than 6,000 members of the restaurant and hotel industry, contributed over $38,000 to Raise the Wage Responsibly, filings show. It paid a Florida political consulting firm $8,000 to gather signatures.
Other than the hospitality association, Everett’s Scuttlebutt Brewing donated $1,000 to the Raise the Wage Responsibly effort, according to state Public Disclosure Commission filings.
“Times are extremely tough for businesses now. The Everett Deserves a Raise petition will just make it harder,” Phil Bannan Jr., who owns Scuttlebutt with his dad, said in an email. “Tips are real income to the employee that makes them and the IRS that taxes them. It is dishonest to omit them in the discussion when putting forth a vote on our city’s minimum wage.”
No donation reports are available for Everett Deserves a Raise.
“I feel that Raise the Wage Responsibly is a knockoff of our initiative, paid for by corporate hospitality with signature gatherers shipped in from Florida,” Shaina Langley, a volunteer with Everett Deserves a Raise, said in a statement. “Our citizen-lead initiative gives workers a fair wage without having to rely on an already out-of-control tipping culture.”
Cost of living is higher in Everett than many other cities in Washington. For a dual-income family of four, the living wage is $33.42 in Snohomish County and $28.93 in Olympia, according to MIT data.
The county elections office will validate and count signatures from each petition. Depending on the number of signatures, each petition would be referred to the Everett City Council for further action. Both groups expect their initiatives will be on the ballot in November.
This article has been updated to include comment from Phil Bannan Jr.
Connor Zamora: 425-339-3037; connor.zamora@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @cgzamora02.
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