On July 15, Raise the Wage Responsibly turned in 2,600 signatures, much more than the 982 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot and more than the 1,500 signatures submitted by Everett Deserves a Raise. Snohomish County elections must now validate the signatures, but it appears both initiatives will appear on the November ballot.
Background
In June a group called Everett Deserves a Raise announced they were collecting signatures to get an initiative on the ballot to raise the Everett minimum wage starting July 1, 2025, to $20.24/hour. It would require offering qualified part-time employees additional available hours before hiring new employees. The proposed initiative is like the Renton and Tukwila initiatives, which voters approved.
In response, Raise the Wage Responsibly was formed last week and is proposing an alternative initiative, which balances the needs of employees and employers. The alternative ballot initiative is modeled off the Everett Deserves a Raise petition, but:
- It includes a total compensation (tips, payment to medical benefits and retirement plans), an allowance to make up the difference between the state minimum wage and what would be the Everett minimum wage
- Treats franchises as independent businesses
- Changes some of the enforcement provisions to allow a right to cure and exhaustion of administrative remedies before a lawsuit can be filed
- Removes some of the more unreasonable compliance components. While minimum wage is the focus, the proposed alternative also requires an employer to offer additional hours to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees.
You can find more information about this campaign at raisethewageresponsibly.org. If you have questions, you can reach out to John Lane, director of local and federal government affairs, at .
