Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has unveiled his plan to phase in a $15-an-hour minimum wage, more than twice the current federal minimum. But depending on their size, Seattle businesses will have between three and seven years to implement the rise. Socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who ran on a platform of a $15-an-hour minimum wage, opposed the mayor’s plan. She criticized it on Huffington Post Live on Thursday.
Kshama Sawant: “It has several components that actually are on the big-business wish list. A four-year phase-in for big business? Why does McDonald’s need four years to bring their workers out of poverty? Let the CEO of Starbucks, let the CEO of McDonald’s come to City Council and justify why they need to keep their workers one day longer in poverty. There is an 11-year phase-in for other businesses. Every year of phase-in is another year that a worker has to live in poverty.”