Seattle’s minimum wage is under attack.

The presence of workers and community members alike are needed at the Seattle City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 6th, at 2 PM. Show up in-person by 1:30 PM or call in. RSVP for a how-to guide on the process.

Ten years after the Fight for 15, Seattle City Council member Joy Hollingsworth has indicated that she’s down to take the side of restaurant lobbyists and permanently end the sunset clause for tipped workers for businesses with less than 500 employees. The ten-year phase-in period for these businesses ends soon (2025), and workers are set to receive at least a $3 pay raise. In the final year of the phase-in period and final weeks of this session, restaurant lobbyists have taken private meetings with the City Council to try to permanently stop this agreed-upon end to the two-tiered wage system. Let’s get one thing straight: Any business built off of the exploitation of its workers is not entitled to be in business at all. Seattle Restaurant Alliance’s concerns about pandemic hardships and inflation fall flat if their solution is to punish some of the people who have been affected by these issues the most: workers!

Joy Hollingsworth’s policy is an attack on hundreds of thousands of Seattle workers who barely make ends meet on these wages as it is, and an insult to customers who are tired of subsidizing wages. This legislation would also open the door for more downward pressure on the tipped hourly wage. Bonuses would be included in compensation (sorry, what?), and the divide within the proposed two-tier minimum wage system would continue to grow with each increase tied to inflation. Subminimum wages for tipped workers promote racial and gendered wage gaps that have only widened throughout the decades.

Business owners and Seattle Restaurant Alliance board members came out in full force for the last City Council meeting. Let’s remind them who they’re outnumbered by in this city. Whether you can testify from the perspective of a worker who is directly affected by this legislation, or as a customer of these businesses who won’t accept this attack on workers’ wages, let’s fight this together!

Join us at Seattle City Council’s August 6th meeting (in-person is more preferred, but virtual is a great option as well!) to let them know we do NOT support going back on the minimum wage deal we made ten years ago.

If you’d like to learn more about how to testify in person or virtually, please indicate on the RSVP form and someone will reach out to walk you through the process.