Burien city stooges think you're stupid. The unprecedented (probably illegal) opposition from Burien city officials.
The mayor and city attorney tried to pull a fast one on you. Part of our fair, democratic process requires an objective and unbiased ballot question as well as explanation of the measure YOU are supposed to vote on. Apparently, they don't care much about all of that. Instead, they tried to push wacky opposition propaganda into our voting process.
See for yourself. This is what they expected you to vote on:
The good news is we won. We filed a lawsuit to ensure a fair election, and successfully shut down this radical attempt to subvert our election. Burien voters deserve better.
This is part of an ongoing effort by big-business-backed city councilmembers and mayor, and their stooges.
Anti-worker councilmembers passed an ordinance using the same strategy we've seen big business lobbyists try elsewhere, including Everett: attempt to confuse voters with "total compensation" and calling it minimum wage in an effort to trick voters. They know raising the minimum wage is popular. They want you to think they raised it when they didn't. They think you'll buy it (it didn't work on Everett voters either, by the way).
The City of Burien published a statement on its website containing a number of misleading claims about the council’s Minimum Wage Ordinance (BMC 5.15) and our initiative. They've also sent out mailers that don't mention the "minimum wage" is actually total compensation. They don't care that this misinforms businesses and workers alike. The goal is to confuse voters.
Burien voters were sent this mailer with no mention of total compensation. The FTEs part isn't accurate either as it's within King County so they seem to have confused themselves with that bit too.
We probably don't need to tell you why making sure workers in Burien have the same standards as all of the cities around us is a good thing, but here is our response to all of their wild claims:
ARGUMENT #1: BURIEN’S NEW MINIMUM WAGE IS ALREADY HIGH ENOUGH
CITY OF BURIEN ARGUES: Burien's new minimum wage is among the highest in the nation, similar to Tukwila, Renton, SeaTac, and Seattle.
The council-adopted minimum wage is among the highest in the nation” and “The City of Burien’s adopted minimum wage is comparable to those of the cities mentioned” (namely SeaTac, Seattle, Tukwila, and Renton)
WE RESPOND: The Burien City Council's so-called "Minimum Wage Law" is so full of loopholes and carve-outs that it’s unlikely to benefit many workers at all.
Burien’s minimum wage law (if it can even be called that – see below re “total compensation”) is far weaker than those of all other King County cities that have adopted local minimum wage standards. First, instead of about $4 above the statewide minimum wage as in these other cities, it only raised "wages" to $2 or $3 above for certain employers. Then the council amended it twice until the total compensation looked remarkably similar to our proposed minimum wage. Almost as if it was on purpose to confuse voters.
Second, because Burien’s ordinance defines “Level 1” (large) and “Level 2” (medium) employers based on employment in King County, huge corporations may easily be classified as medium or small. For example, a multinational corporation with 500 or fewer FTEs in King County would be considered a mid-sized business and only required to pay $2 (now $3.50 after their scramble attempt with two amendments to compete with our initiative, which may violate election laws) above the statewide minimum wage. If it has 20 or fewer FTEs, it would be exempt.
Third, unlike all the other local minimum wage ordinances, Burien’s classifies franchises according to the size of the franchisee rather than the network, so they will be treated as medium or small (exempted) employers rather than large employer. This means McDonalds and Wendy's is treated like a local mom-and-pop restaurant.
Fourth, Burien’s ordinance does not actually set a minimum wage rate at all, it sets a minimum rate of “total compensation,” meaning that tips, healthcare and other benefits count against a worker’s wage. Unlike workers in Tukwila and Renton, tipped workers in Burien are unlikely to see any wage increase, and neither are workers at Safeway, PCC, Fred Meyer, etc. who receive some benefits.
It’s hard to think of any employer in Burien that would clearly have to pay a higher minimum wage under the council’s ordinance. This is in stark contrast to every other jurisdiction in King County that has passed a minimum wage law.
ARGUMENT #2: THIS INITIATIVE TIES BURIEN TO TUKWILA
CITY OF BURIEN ARGUES: “The fact that Burien’s minimum wage would be tied to decisions in Tukwila could be a problem"
"Based on initiative law, if the initiative ordinance passes, Burien voters who wanted to untie Burien from decisions made in the City of Tukwila would need to go to Tukwila City Council Meetings and argue for changes or have another ballot measure in Burien because an ordinance initiated by petition ‘cannot be repealed or amended except by a vote of the people.’”
WE RESPOND: The initiative does not tie Burien’s law to decisions in Tukwila.
It simply uses Tukwila's rate of pay as the starting point or baseline. The Initiative states, "Starting 30 days after the effective date, and through the end of the calendar year, every large employer must pay each employee an hourly wage not less than the large employer minimum wage rate in effect in the City of Tukwila… On each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage must increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power." If the City of Tukwila were to amend its minimum wage law at some future time, this would have no effect on Burien’s minimum wage.
ARGUMENT #3: BURIEN'S SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTIONS ARE SIMILAR TO ITS NEIGHBORS
CITY OF BURIEN ARGUES: Tukwila and Renton have small business exemptions similar to Burien's
“Tukwila and Renton have minimum wage ordinances with small business exemptions similar to Burien’s existing minimum wage exemption for small employers.”
WE RESPOND: Crucial differences in the exemptions make this a false claim.
Burien’s ordinance exempts employers with 20 or fewer FTEs in King County. Tukwila’s and Renton’s laws exempt employers with fewer than 15 employees worldwide and less than $2 million in gross revenue (both conditions must be fulfilled). Note that this is employees, not FTEs. A business with 20 FTEs may, for example, have 40 or more employees if all of them work part time. Burien’s law thus exempts far more employers (and thereby excludes far more workers) than Tukwila’s or Renton’s. Also, note that the minimum wage law passed in 2023 for unincorporated King County, including White Center, does not have any exemption for small businesses. Like our initiative, it simply includes a longer phase-in.
Furthermore, because how the Burien ordinance defines the employer tiers, many other employers that would be classified as medium or large under Tukwila’s and Renton’s laws will likely be counted as “small” and exempted. This includes franchises, which are classified according to the size of the franchise network in all other cities’ ordinances, but according to the size of the franchisee in Burien’s law. It may also include huge multinational corporations with only one or two locations in King County, since Burien’s law nonsensically defines a “Level 2 employer” as “all employers … that employ 21 – 499 FTEs in King County.”
ARGUMENT #4: BURIEN IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER CITIES
CITY OF BURIEN ARGUES: Burien has more small businesses than other cities.
“Burien’s economic base largely consists of small businesses and is different from cities (SeaTac, Seattle, Renton, and Tukwila) that are home to sports teams, or have airports, hotels, and regional or larger shopping malls or stores.”
WE RESPOND: All these cities have large numbers of small businesses.
If anything, the fact that Burien is home to many small businesses makes it even more important that Burien’s minimum wage law cover businesses of all sizes. Otherwise, a large part of Burien’s low-wage workforce will be excluded from earning a living wage.
Furthermore, unincorporated King County, including White Center, Skyway, and Vashon Island, will soon be covered by a minimum wage ordinance very similar to the one proposed in our initiative. Unincorporated King County is also not home to large shopping malls, airports, etc.
The bottom line is that all workers need and deserve a living wage. Whether they live or work in Burien, White Center, SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, or Seattle, the cost of living in our region is extremely high, especially housing costs. A full-time worker should be able to afford to rent a modest apartment and buy groceries without depending on public assistance.
ARGUMENT #5: OUR INTIATIVE DOESN'T ADDRESS WAGE THEFT
CITY OF BURIEN ARGUES: Their ordinance addresses wage theft, while ours doesn't.
Burien’s table listing “Significant differences between the existing and initiative ordinance” states that the council’s ordinance addresses wage theft (BMC 5.15.250) while our initiative does not.
WE RESPOND: As a worker-centered and led initiative, of course we've included actionable wage theft remedies.
On the contrary, Section 8 of the initiative provides a whole range of wage theft enforcement remedies including, but not limited to, a private right of action through a civil action, and the authority of the City to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief.