At its Mar. 18, 2024 meeting, the Burien City Council passed one of the highest minimum wage ordinances in the nation, bringing it more in line with its larger neighbors while providing flexibility for small businesses.
The city’s wage ordinance passed at last Monday’s council meeting by a 4-1-2 vote, with councilmembers Hugo Garcia and Sarah Moore abstaining, and Stephanie Mora voting no.
The City of Burien now joins a handful of Washington’s 65 cities with a minimum wage that exceeds the state’s, which is the highest statewide minimum wage in the U.S. at $16.28/hour. Effective Jan. 1, 2025, large businesses in Burien will now pay $3 above the state minimum wage, which rises annually with the cost of living. Today that would be $19.28 per hour, .69 cents below the $19.97 per hour paid in the City of Seattle. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is still followed by 20 other states, which was last raised in 2009.
For medium sized businesses – those with 21 to 499 employees – Burien’s minimum wage law calculates total compensation to include benefits like health insurance and tips as part of the wage, in line with Seattle’s. Minimum compensation is set at $2 above the state minimum wage, in line with the City of Bellingham, which recently set its minimum wage at $2 above the state minimum wage via a ballot initiative.
The City of Burien exempted small businesses, defined as those with fewer than 20 employees, allowing small employers to determine how to best add value for their employees while competing with higher wages at the larger businesses nearby.
“The City of Burien took a thoughtful approach that the employer community appreciated and was able to support,” said Dan Austin, owner of Flight Path in Boulevard Park. “By looking not only at what other Washington cities have done but hearing from both local workers and local employers about how to strike a fair and workable balance for Burien, the City was able to pass the take the most innovative minimum wage ordinance in the state, reflecting the uniqueness of Burien’s local economy while increasing the compensation of local workers.”
Opponents Disagree, Call New Wage ‘An Embarrassment’
Raise the Wage Burien – a group that wants voters to decide on a higher wage – are working to get a measure on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot for a public vote.
“The Burien minimum wage legislation passed last week by a slim majority of our city council is an embarrassment,” Raise the Wage Burien organizers told The B-Town Blog. “It was designed to be able to say they did it, while carving out their business buddies and doing next to nothing to benefit Burien’s low-wage workers or our local economy.
Their goal is to get this initiative put on the November ballot like the cities of SeaTac and Tukwila did previously, with a targeted wage of $20.29 per hour, not the $19.28 that was approved by the Burien City Council on Mar. 18, 2024. Organizers will need to gather 15% of the number of registered voters at the time of the last general election (29,469 total), so 4,421 signatures are needed from Burien voters, which will have to be submitted to the state by May. Voters would then vote on this initiative in the Nov. 5 General Election, and if approved, the higher $20.29/hour wage would become law and supersede the city’s $19.28/hour one.
“The coalition of Burien residents and workers, community organizations and labor unions that first brought a minimum wage proposal to the city council last year is extremely disappointed by this lackluster legislation.”
Here’s Raise the Wage Burien’s proposal:
- Large employers (over 500 employees worldwide) would have to match Tukwila’s and Renton’s minimum wage ($20.29/hour).
- Medium employers (16-500 employees) would have a 3-year phase-in period.
- Small employers (15 or fewer employees) would have a gradual 7-year phase-in period.
- Access to Hours: Large and medium employers must offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees or subcontractors.
Their targeted wage – which would have been 5.24 percent higher than Burien’s new one – would count tips and benefits as part of the minimum wage.
“That means a Burien grocery worker like Arc Di, who as The Seattle Times reported makes just $16.53 an hour, likely won’t see a raise,” they said. “Why? Because they get health insurance through their job. But health insurance doesn’t pay the rent or buy food, and Di has to work a second job to make ends meet for their family.”
Sandra Aguilar, who worked as a teacher in the Highline School District for 30 years, says of counting tips toward the minimum wage: “That’s not OK. A salary is a salary, workers need to get an increased wage and tips should be on top of that.”
Below is the full statement from the opposing “Raise the Wage Burien” group:
“The Burien minimum wage legislation passed last week by a slim majority of our city council is an embarrassment. It was designed to be able to say they did it, while carving out their business buddies and doing next to nothing to benefit Burien’s low-wage workers or our local economy.
“Burien People Power explained some of the problems with this legislation a few weeks ago here on the B-Town Blog. The draft ordinance was lightly amended and passed with four votes on Monday, with Councilmembers Hugo Garcia and Sarah Moore abstaining and Councilmember Stephanie Mora voting against. The final result is inadequate, unfair, and confusing.
“To choose just one example, the legislation would count tips and benefits as part of the minimum wage. That means a Burien grocery worker like Arc Di, who as The Seattle Times reported makes just $16.53 an hour, likely won’t see a raise. Why? Because they get health insurance through their job. But health insurance doesn’t pay the rent or buy food, and Di has to work a second job to make ends meet for their family.
“Sandra Aguilar, who worked as a teacher in the Highline School District for 30 years, says of counting tips toward the minimum wage: ‘That’s not OK. A salary is a salary, workers need to get an increased wage and tips should be on top of that.’
“One of Aguilar’s daughters used to work in the restaurant industry, and making extra money from tips was important way to improve her economic situation. “We come from a working class family,” says Aguilar. “We don’t have property, inherited from one generation to another. Whatever we have now we have built.”
“Whether it’s a young person helping their parents pay the bills or a senior who can’t afford to retire, all Burien workers deserve a living wage. The coalition of Burien residents and workers, community organizations and labor unions that first brought a minimum wage proposal to the city council last year is extremely disappointed by this lackluster legislation.
“We think the people of Burien should to be able to vote on strong minimum wage legislation, just [like] Tukwila did in 2022 and Renton did this February. We are now gathering signatures to place our measure on the ballot, and we invite everyone to join us. Our website is still a work in progress and will be much improved soon — this is a grassroots effort! — but you can read more about our proposal, donate, and sign up to volunteer at RaiseTheWageBurien.org.”
