TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma’s City Council voted to send a minimum wage initiative to voters — but it’s not clear when or if voters will see it on a ballot.
The proposal, known as Initiative 2, calls for raising Tacoma’s minimum wage to $20 per hour in a phased-in approach, up from the current minimum wage of $16.66.
In a special meeting on Friday, the City Council declined to adopt Initiative 2 as written, instead opting to send it to the auditor’s office for placement on the ballot in November.
The only problem: the City Council missed the deadline to get it on the ballot. That deadline was Tuesday.
In a response following the vote, Tacoma’s Mayor declined to address the missed deadline or specify what could come next as a result.
She did express concerns about the measure as written.
“I share the petitioners’ commitment to living wages, access to hours, secure scheduling, and safer workplaces,” Mayor Victoria Woodards wrote. “But as written, this initiative raises significant concerns about unintended consequences for our community.”
The proposal, being referred to as the “Tacoma Workers Bill of Rights,” also includes other worker protections, like requiring more advanced notice of assigned shifts and shift changes.
Activists have spent months trying to get the initiative before voters.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union 367 and Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have spearheaded the effort.
“It’s getting more expensive to just keep your head above water,” said Sean Arent, with Tacoma’s DSA chapter, in March.
Arent said it’s also focused on improving employee stability throughout the city.
“Imagine that you’re having to pay for the enormous costs of childcare when you can’t even predict your schedule two weeks in advance,” he said in March. “What does that do to people? It creates gaps in our in our system.”
Both Mayor Victoria Woodards and Councilmember John Hines expressed concerns about the measure Friday in its current form, as it could pertain to nonprofits and city workers.
“Even with the best of intentions, not everybody has access to the full picture or the ability to anticipate every consequence of this policy,” Mayor Victoria Woodards said.
“I have real concerns about some of our employees in services that require people to be available at a moment’s notice,” Hines said, adding he worried about the impact it could on critical services during someone’s time of need.
It’s not immediately clear what the city will do next.
Officials in the county elections office told KIRO 7 the city could place the initiative on the ballot in February, but the city would need to approve a new resolution in order to do that. The deadline to submit it would be in December.
KIRO 7 asked city communications officials whether it was the city’s intention to put forward a new resolution to get it on February’s ballot. They could not provide an answer on Friday.
In her statement Friday, the Mayor also provided information about a separate proposals she planned to put forward. It would establish a task force to examine labor standards in Tacoma.
You can read more about the proposal here.
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