Mayors office responds.

What follows is the newly elected Seattle Mayors office response to a question I posed, asking what will happen to all of the people earning $12, $13 and $14.00 an hour now if the minimum wage jumps from $9.32 to $15.00 an hour.  I ask you this....did my question get addressed?

Dear Steve Drake,

 

Thank you for your note.

 

Mayor Murray is committed to addressing income inequality in Seattle and keeping our City affordable for all residents. A key component of his plan is to raise the minimum wage in our City.

 

We are aware that this issue is contentious, and that there are associated risks.

 

This is why Mayor Murray has not simply rushed forward with proposed legislation. Rather, he convened last December an Income Inequality Advisory Committee. This committee comprises representatives of businesses from different sectors, of different sizes, with different employee compensation models, as well as from organized labor and the non-profit sector. They are tasked with negotiating a set of recommendations that will form the basis of future legislation. As an initial step, this committee has commissioned an economic analysis, from UC-Berkeley and UW-Seattle, of possible consequences of increasing the minimum wage in Seattle. The Mayor has established a deadline of the end of April for the committee to make their recommendations.

 

Of course, a crucial component of this process is public input, and, again, we thank you for your note. For timelines of this process, a list of dates and locations of our forthcoming public meetings, or to learn more about Mayor Murrays affordability agenda, please visit our website: www.seattle.gov/incomeinequality.

 

Please click here if you have further questions.

Sincerely,
Bennett Barr