EVERETT — Voters in the city will be deciding between two competing initiatives that would raise the minimum wage and a third that would give the Snohomish River watershed defensible legal rights on November ballots.
Ballots will be mailed out Oct. 18.
While both wage initiatives want to raise the local minimum wage from the state minimum of $16.28 to $20.24 an hour, the main difference between them is whether to include “additional compensation” such as tips, insurance, and other benefits for how $20.24 an hour is calculated.
Everett Deserves a Raise (initiative 24-01) registered on May 31 and started to get signatures to put the initiative on the ballot throughout June, according to filings. In response, the Washington Hospitality Association-sponsored initiative Raise the Wage Responsibly (initiative 24-02) was registered on June 27.
The hospitality association’s Raise the Wage Responsibly measure would give employees the $20.24 an hour minimum wage, but up to $3.96 per hour in tipped income can contribute to that total, according to Jeff Reading, a spokesperson for Washington Hospitality Association.
Reading said by email the association thinks it is fair to consider tips as income. “After all, tips are required to be reported to the federal government, where they are counted as income. Providing this flexibility allows employees to be guaranteed a $20.24 wage in a way that is workable for their employers.”
The Washington Hospitality Association has contributed over $40,000 toward passing Initiative 24-02, according to state Public Disclosure Commission filings, the body which governs campaign finances.
Both proposed initiatives would allow small businesses time — up to July 2027— to increase their wages to the mandated $20.24, while large employers above 500 employees must implement the change by July 1, 2025.
Everett Deserves a Raise has had the endorsement of the Snohomish County Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) since late June.
SnoCo DSA members have wanted a wage increase due to corporate profits soaring, said Nicholas Watkins, co-chair of SnoCo DSA. He spoke of how Everett Deserves a Raise specifically got their endorsement due to it being a grassroots campaign led by the working people and not backed by corporate funding.
“We plan on knocking on doors every weekend ahead of election day to talk directly with the working people of Everett to beat this anti-worker alternative … The response has been overwhelmingly positive because most people feel how unfair this economy has been,” Watkins said.
The Everett Deserves a Raise initiative “both ensures that restaurant workers get the $20.24 minimum wage on top of their tips and these enforcement mechanisms are crucial in making sure that corporations are held accountable,” Watkins said.
Organizers for Everett Deserves a Raise did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
River rights initiative
A third initiative (24-03) from Standing for Washington is intended to safeguard the Snohomish River Watershed by giving it legal rights in a court.
Passing the initiative would allow the Everett community to go to court on behalf of the watershed to sue anyone who is polluting or causing damage to the watershed — maintaining the watershed’s water quality, biodiversity, and contributing to the Everett economy according to the campaign’s website.
“We know of plenty of cases where community groups tried to protect their local watersheds, only to be told they didn’t have legal standing so couldn’t take the case forward,” campaign co-manager Rachel Kurtz-McAlaine said in an email. “Current legal frameworks don’t always protect our watershed adequately and can change with the political climate.”
This story was produced by a journalism student at the UW News Lab for the Tribune.
