Today, Mayor Murray delivered his proposal for raising the minimum wage to City Council. The City Council will deliberate in public and it is important that low wage workers have their voices heard in this process.

I have posted a separate blog post to talk more about this here.

Also, the Seattle Channel records all council meetings and activities. You can watch any of the meetings dealing with the minimum wage at www.seattlechannel.org.

You can find more information about the committee on minimum wage here, and below is the schedule of the next few upcoming meetings:

Full Council Meeting

Today there were several proposals to appoint members to the Economic Development Commission. Boards like this are designed to give more input to elected policy makers and this particular commission has been heavily dominated by big business representatives. Working people need more

Energy Committee

Next week begins the Council’s review of the first ever update of the City Light Strategic Plan. This document helps the Council and the public review and have input into the future planning of City Light over six years. We will be having presentations at Select Committee meetings, the first being next Monday, May 12, after Full Council, and we will be investigating topics more in depth at Energy Committee meetings starting next Wednesday.

May Day

On May 1, International Workers’ Day, I marched with El Comite and the May Day Committee for immigrant and workers’ rights. I have a few pictures of that march on my Council Facebook Page. It was a fantastic, peaceful, family friendly, and highly political event focused on ending deportations and raising the minimum wage. Children led chants for the DREAM act, workers held signs for $15/hour. And speeches brought to light the 2 million people deported since President Obama took office, more than under all other presidencies combined. Sometimes the sensational evening events on May Day overshadow the indispensable political demands of the earlier march involving thousands of people, and I think that the council has a duty to emphasize these issues.

SAFE

Also on May 1,  Standing Against Foreclosures and Evictions (SAFE) celebrated its 2nd anniversary. They held a press conference and rally earlier in the week against Wells Fargo for predatory lending practices.

Posted: May 5th, 2014 under Minimum Wage, Weekly Update
Tags: May Day, Minimum Wage, Seattle City Light