20 things poverty-wage workers have done to make ends meet that state politicians don't know anything about
As the State Legislature considers bills to raise the minimum wage and establish a minimum standard for paid sick days, we asked people across the state to answer a simple question. The answers we received are a heartbreaking call to action.
Read MoreWhat's One Thing You Do to Make Ends Meet That State Politicians Don't Know Anything About?
This Monday in Olympia, the House Appropriations committee will be hearing about bills that could raise the minimum wage and provide paid sick time for workers in Washington State. The business lobby will certainly be out in force, and while some legislators own businesses, not one of these politicians lives on minimum wage. (And none of them have to worry about missing a day’s wages if they get the flu.)
So we figured it’s time to remind them what it’s really like, by asking you one simple question:
We know from experience in Seattle and SeaTac that it matters when politicians hear from regular people about living on minimum wage, or going without basic workplace protections like paid sick time. Tell us your story, and we'll bring it down to Olympia on Monday.
Think this happens at Sea-Tac Airport? Hint: it does.
One fast food franchise owners’s phase-in towards acceptance
How one franchisee's prediction of the price impact of higher minimum wages has gone down from "more than $1" per sandwich to just 4%. Fear evolves into acceptance as the reality of Seattle's minimum wage law approaches.
Read MoreMalcolm Cooper-Suggs, a leader with Working Washington, is on the front page of the Seattle Times.
Seen from a Bellevue McDonald's parking lot
We put this photo up on Reddit and it has stirred a conversation about low-wage jobs, poverty, homelessness, and the suburbs. Over 40,000 people have seen this photo already.
Read MoreCallous Rep Matt Manweller loses straw-man argument with himself before House Labor Committee
Touching on the various topics of daytime TV, calloused hands, green T-shirts, and the fact that things change over the course of 30 years as well as 78 years, Rep. Matt Manweller’s out-of-touch and self-satirizing get-off-my-lawn rant is must-watch video that shows it’s actually possible to use straw-man arguments — and still lose to the straw man. Just three days earlier, his committee heard personal testimony from working people about their struggles with low-wage jobs. Manweller’s rant demonstrated he must not have heard a single world they said.
Read MoreWe knew they would say that
At the Olympia hearing about the proposed bills to raise the minimum wage and create minimum standards for paid sick leave, we brought Bingo cards that predicted what the business lobbying groups would say to try and justify paying people poverty wages.
Read More