What’s next for $20 minimum wage proposal in Tacoma? Here’s where things stand
Amid controversy over a proposal to raise Tacoma’s minimum wage to $20 an hour, organizers who put the initiative forward are worried about its future.
Organizers with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367, Tacoma for All and the Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America had been gathering signatures to put a “workers bill of rights” on the November ballot, an effort to raise Tacoma’s minimum wage to $20 and bolster protections for workers in the city. City and county officials validated the signatures, and the city charter dictates that it’s up to the city council to either approve the initiative directly or put it to the voters.
The council last week voted to put the initiative to the voters on the November ballot despite missing the county deadline to do so. For the measure to appear on the ballot, as it is required to by the city charter, council will now need to vote again by Dec. 12 to send the measure to the ballot in a special election next February.
But Ann Dorn of Tacoma for All said she’s worried that the city council will choose not to do so, and make the case that it has already done its due diligence in attempting to get it on the ballot.
“I can’t even put into words how anti-democratic it would be for the 10,000 people in Tacoma to sign a petition saying they want the chance to vote on this, and then to have the city turn around and completely deny our legal right,” Dorn told The News Tribune.
City spokesperson Dee Paul told The News Tribune that the city can’t comment on whether the council will vote to put it on a February ballot since it’s part of ongoing litigation. The city has yet to respond directly to questions from The News Tribune about why the council decided to call for an election for the initiative despite missing the deadline.
The three groups on Aug. 12 filed a lawsuit against the city, county and county auditor alleging that the three played a role in preventing the initiative from appearing on the November ballot. Activists have said the only acceptable outcome would be for the measure to appear on the November ballot.
Dorn said most people involved with the workers bill of rights campaign have day jobs, and work for the campaign in their off hours. If the measure did appear in a February special election, knocking and campaigning in the winter would be harder than it would be over the next few weeks.
“Our organizers are cold, freezing, it’s raining, it’s dark,” she said. “A February ballot isn’t ideal,” she said.
Though a hearing date has been set for Dec. 5 of this year, Knoll Lowney, an attorney representing the three plaintiffs in the case, said he anticipates that a judge will hear the case in August and make a decision before the end of the month.
“There are ballot printing deadlines, and that’s really the schedule by which the judge will usually hear a case like this,” Lowney told The News Tribune.
UFCW 367 and Tacoma for All sued the same three defendants in 2023 over the city of Tacoma’s efforts to get a competing measure on the ballot regarding a tenants bill of rights. In that instance, a judge decided to block the competing measure by Aug. 30.
Pierce County elections manager Kyle Haugh said state law dictates deadlines for the submission of initiatives for elections, which for general elections is always the day of the primary election.
He said voter pamphlets are due to be printed on Sept. 3, and ballots are due to be printed on Sept. 10.
“Our entire team is working to proof the 150 plus page pamphlet and ballots for 745 precincts,” Haugh said in an email.
