As a couple of Black and Brown organizers in Seattle and South King County, we’ve learned a lot over the years about how to make change in our communities. At this moment, we’re fighting to raise the minimum wage in Renton, and we’re almost there! We want to provide some insight into what happens when working people decide we have the power to uplift our communities beyond what policymakers provide.
Who are we and what are we doing?
While working together on Stephanie Gallardo’s campaign for Congress in 2022, we linked up with the Transit Riders Union (TRU) on its campaign to raise the minimum wage in Tukwila, knocking doors and talking to voters. When the initiative passed with 82% of the vote, we pivoted toward Renton. Currently, Renton’s minimum wage remains at the statewide minimum of $16.28 an hour, while the rates in the neighboring cities of Seatac, Seattle and Tukwila hover around $20 an hour. In January 2023, we joined forces with former Gallardo volunteers, the Renton Education Association (REA), TRU and the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to build a broad coalition of labor unions, local businesses, elected officials and Renton residents to draft an ordinance to raise the minimum wage. After 12 months of campaigning, Initiative Measure 23-02 qualified for Renton’s Feb. 13 special election.
This measure would raise Renton’s minimum wage to $20.29 starting in July 2024 for large employers and $18.29 for small-to-medium businesses, with a two year phase-in period. The smallest businesses — those with fewer than 15 employees — are entirely exempt. Initiative Measure 23-02 also includes inflation adjustments, secures additional hours for part-time employees and prohibits employer retaliation.
Why are we doing this?
This initiative will raise wages for over 22,000 low-wage workers in Renton. Additionally, it will help retain some of the 45,000 residents who commute daily out of Renton to chase higher wages. Not only do low wages cause people to spend time and money outside of their own cities, but they also contribute to our region’s backed-up highways. Additionally, wages aren’t keeping pace with the cost of living — especially rising housing costs. With current pay rates, a person with a full-time, minimum wage job in Renton must work 77 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom apartment. When working families don’t earn ample income, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care and groceries. According to the latest census, low-income households make up 44% of total households in Renton. This issue disproportionately affects people of color, with 57% of Black households and 63% of Hispanic households in Renton qualifying as low-income.
While some will argue the money isn’t there to raise wages and that consumers will absorb these costs, the numbers tell a different story. In 2022, shareholder profits across the country hit record numbers of $923 billion in stock buybacks and $546 billion in shareholder dividends. The money is there; it’s just being held hostage by the wealthy few. Something needs to change to make sure Rentonites can afford to not only live, but thrive.
Where policymakers fail, the people prevail
Throughout our mission to gather signatures and navigate procedural barriers, we have confirmed that these systems weren’t built for working people. Qualifying for the ballot required 9,000 verified signatures from voters: a difficult task for a sprawling city like Renton. We sought support from elected officials, organizations and labor unions, but we faced the classic chicken-before-the-egg problem. Many wouldn’t jump in until others with more clout had already signed on. We often wondered, if we were wealthier or whiter, would we have gotten more early support?
Despite these early challenges, our team got to work. Our teammate, Michael Westgaard, ran for Renton City Council in the August primary election to amplify the urgent need for a higher wage. We collected over 17,000 signatures, which was more signatures than many Renton City Councilmembers got in votes, and qualified for the February special election. We also discovered that the Council had the option of adopting our initiative by a majority vote, rather than hold a costly special election. Over 100 community members wrote letters to the City Council in support of adoption, and with this momentum, Councilmember Carmen Rivera introduced a motion to adopt the ordinance at a December meeting. This led to a discussion revealing where councilmembers stood on this issue, with Councilmember James Alberson Jr. speculating that low wage workers are either too young or too old to need a livable wage, parroting the fallacy of “low-skilled” labor.
Ultimately, all of the councilmembers, besides Councilmember Rivera, voted against adopting this measure outright. Councilmember Ed Prince even made a proposal to cut a full hour of public comment after seeing dozens signed up to speak. We learned the lesson that having to show up to testify on a weekday and sitting through jargony procedure presented barriers for working class residents, but we got councilmembers on the record and will remember the moment they voted against working families.
Opposition emerges
Six days later, the “No on 23-02” PAC was born. By the start of 2024, contributions totaled $70,000 from the Washington Hospitality Association — Olympia lobbyists who smear, fearmonger and lie to protect the profits of large corporations. CEO Anthony Anton even shamelessly bragged about lobbying against raising the minimum wage in Burien and unincorporated King County. The Washington Hospitality Association’s board of directors list reveals representation from large entities like McDonald’s and the National Restaurant Association, whose origins date back to the 1870s, when white restaurant owners took notice of Black worker unionization efforts and then later lobbied to ensure tipped workers’ wages were left out of the federal minimum wage.
Perhaps the most insidious actions have come from the Renton Chamber of Commerce executive board, which despite receiving taxpayer funds, is listed as one of the PAC’s top contributors. Renton Chamber CEO Diane Dobson has urged voters to reject our measure to “protect Renton’s workforce and identity” on the voters pamphlet, as a dog-whistling signal to older, conservative white voters letting them know that folks who don’t look like them have stepped up, together with a new wave of diverse Rentonites, to demand change.
What does all this mean for the greater region, organizing and the future?
The ballot initiative process is an immensely powerful tool but requires a coalition of stakeholders and money to overcome challenges. The road to labor justice is long, reaching beyond Renton. With the recent makeup of the Seattle City Council and an eclectic mix of conservative titans like Mayor Bruce Harrell, City Attorney Ann Davison, Council President Sara Nelson and recently appointed failed Seattle City Council D2 candidate Tanya Woo, we should all be concerned for unhoused communities, working people and immigrant families across King County.
Elected officials depend on relationships with corporate PACs and their associations with local Chambers of Commerce as their connection to the business community. It’s a profit-driven relationship dependent on the false claims that higher wages lead to higher costs and that we should ignore corporate profits. Some minority small-business owners have been tokenized as crowning achievements of the capitalist system. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s PAC made its own headlines by opposing the JumpStart tax and pouring funds into the moderate slate of 2019 Seattle city council candidates. The Chamber of Commerce also happens to share an office building with Seattle Hospitality for Progress, which dropped $20,000 into “No on 23-02” in Renton and is undoubtedly working with the Washington Hospitality Association to stifle our efforts.
Our campaign’s inextricable ties to the region underscore the importance of our success. Our efforts may offer a case study of the question: What happens to a region when a few major cities significantly raise minimum wages?
We believe the surrounding cities must follow suit. Sometimes a local effort is a regional effort, because we exist as interconnected communities of neighboring cities. Our biggest lesson is that none of this is possible without the power of the people. Winning won’t be easy, especially for Black and Brown organizers, but it’s possible when we build coalitions and maintain good mental health practices when working in white spaces. We’re exhausted, but we are equipped with a fierce hope that sustains us and a strong community that transcends campaign cycles. Win or lose, we’re just getting started.
Read more of the Feb. 7–13, 2024 issue.