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$15 will create jobs!
Consumer demand is what drives job creation, not super profits and poverty wages. With more money in our pockets, workers will spend more boosting our local economy and creating new jobs.
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Don’t let them scare you.
Every time there is a proposal for the minimum wage the corporate media goes hysterical saying it will kill jobs and wreck the economy, but it never does. WA state had a bigger minimum wage increase from 1990-91 and their was no economic crisis or major job loss. The minimum wage has been raised hundreds of times and none of these nightmare scenarios have ever seen the light of day. They said the same thing about paid sick leave, the smoking ban and plastics bag ban but that was also a lie!
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Over 100,000 will be lifted out of poverty.
Studies show that $15 will lift over 100,000 workers and their families out of poverty in Seattle.
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$15 is the minimum.
That’s what a minimum wage means. Any counting of tips, healthcare or other benefits as part of 15 is a way of legalizing wage theft. WA State already won the battle against wage theft by eliminated the so-called “tip credit.” This would be a step backward for all of us.
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All workers need $15.
Whether you work for a huge corporation or a small shop you need at least $15 as a bare minimum to live in Seattle. Studies show that a basic living wage in WA State (let alone Seattle) is higher that $15. How is it that corporations are raking in massive profits and CEO pay is at record levels, and yet we’re being unreasonable to demand $15?
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$15 now because the rent won’t wait.
We have the fastest rising rent in the U.S. but the landlords won’t phase in our payments. We aren’t just teenagers trying to make an extra buck, we have families to support and bills to pay. No delays, we need 15 Now!
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It’s a myth that less skilled workers will lose their jobs.
Jobs aren’t created out of the benevolence of corporations. They need workers to run their businesses and most can’t afford to cut jobs. Higher wages won’t mean workers will lose jobs, it will simply mean we will be better paid.
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$15 is a racial justice issue.
People of color and immigrants have disproportionately been forced into low wage jobs. Raising the minimum would be a step towards real equality.
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$15 is a women’s rights issue.
66% of tipped low wage workers are women, and Seattle has one of the highest gender pay gaps in the US. Raising the minimum would be a step towards real equality.
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$15 will boost the economy.
Working people invest in the economy while big business sucks profits out of it. More money in pockets of working people will mean more money spent locally reinvesting in our economy instead of profits being moved to the casino on Wall Street. We urgently need $15 as a step towards rebuilding our economy based on good jobs, decent wages and benefits for all.
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Big business can afford it!
We have some of the wealthiest corporations in the country doing business in Seattle. Why should workers live on poverty wages while Boeing is raking in billions in profits and being given $8.7 billion in subsidies?
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Big business kills jobs not workers’ wages.
We can’t forget it was Wall Street and big business who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs.
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Big business can support small business.
Big businesses like Amazon are the real small business killers, not the minimum wage. Seattle had a long history of independently owned bookstores which have since been shut down by Amazon. Small businesses are squeezed by the big corporations who get all the tax breaks. Help for small business should come from these wealthy corporations and not from low-wage workers.
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Non-profit workers also need $15.
Human services are being grossly underfunded and their self-sacrificing workers are being underpaid. We need to tax big business to reverse this trend and fully fund non-profits.
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Low wage workers are better educated than ever before
Low wage workers are better educated than ever before, yet the economy is overwhelmingly creating low-wage jobs. A college degree is no ticket out of poverty in this system – it’s more often a ticket for paying student debt while working a low wage job.