Seattle–First to $15
By A huge step forward in the minimum wage struggle was taken yesterday in Seattle, where a commission of labor and business members came to a general agreement on a $15 minimum wage for the city, making it the nation’s wage leader. This isn’t a total victory–it is really complicated with lots of business-friendly provisions and it needs to pass the City Council and there’s certainly a chance that business will seek to water it down when it gets to that point. Hopefully labor will be fighting to make it stronger at that level (although I doubt it). But these are the compromises one goes through in passing progressive legislation. That it is tied to the Consumer Price Index is also important.
And hopefully, in a few years Seattle’s minimum wage will be widely seen as too low and the fight for $20 will be underway.