KING COUNTY, Wash. — King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay introduced a proposal this week to raise the minimum wage in unincorporated parts of the county to $18.99 an hour.
If passed, the proposal would bring wages in unincorporated King County more in line with the minimum wages offered by some incorporated cities, like Seattle, SeaTac and Tukwila, all of which have minimum wages of around $19. The minimum wage would increase by a percentage annually to reflect the rate of inflation.
Currently, the minimum wage in unincorporated King County is the state minimum wage of $15.75 an hour. An employee making that much would have to work 103 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment at fair market value in King County, according to data provided by Zahilay.
“To add insult to injury, if you’re a worker in Skyway and you walk one block north to Seattle, you would make $3 an hour more,” Zahilay said at a press conference Thursday. “If you walked one block west to Tukwila, you would make $3 more every single hour, every single day. A little bit further south, to SeaTac, and you would make $3 more every single hour, every single day.”
The proposal is co-sponsored by councilmembers Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Joe McDermott and Rod Dembowski. Community advocates, union representatives and business owners also came out to support the proposal.
Rebecca Zapata, Executive Director of the Skyway Coalition, said the proposal would have a positive impact on those in the Skyway neighborhood who are impacted by institutionalized discrimination.
“Skyway has faced a legacy of neglect for far too long, with inequitable policies that have disproportionately affected our BIPOC residents,” Zapata said. “Raising the minimum wage mitigates some of the harm directed toward this community.”
If passed, the ordinance would not go fully into effect for small businesses right away.
Employers with 15 or fewer employees and with an annual gross revenue of less than $2 million would pay their employees at the minimum wage minus $3. The $3 reduction would decrease annually by fifty cents on Jan. 1 of each year after.
Employers with between 15 and 500 employees will be required to pay their employees the minimum wage minus $2 an hour. The $2 reduction would decrease annually by one dollar on Jan. 1 of each year after, until the minimum wage aligns with the ordinance.