The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
May 2, 2014

Seattle Mayor Unveils Plan to Phase In $15 Minimum Wage Hike 
-------------------------------------------------------------


 
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has unveiled his plan to phase in a $15 an hour
minimum wage, more than twice the current federal minimum. But,
depending on their size, Seattle businesses will have between three and
seven years to implement the rise. Socialist City Council member Kshama
Sawant, who ran on a platform of a $15-an-hour minimum wage, opposed the
mayor's plan. She criticized it on Huffington Post Live on Thursday.

Kshama Sawant: "It has several components that actually are on the
big-business wish list. A four-year phase-in for big business? Why does
Mc Donald's need four years to bring their workers out of poverty? Let
the CEO of Starbucks, let the CEO of Mc Donald's come to City Council
and justify why they need to keep their workers one day longer in
poverty. There is an 11-year phase-in for other businesses. Every year
of phase-in is another year that a worker has to live in poverty."

 

.