Seattle’s $15 minimum wage law takes effect next month, and the International Franchise Association (IFA) is seeking to temporarily halt a part of the law that it claims discriminates against local franchisees. Specifically, IFA and five local franchisees want a preliminary injunction to suspend the portion of the $15 minimum wage law that classifies franchises—no matter the size—as big businesses, which places them at a financial disadvantage against other small businesses by putting them on a “faster track toward paying workers $15 an hour.”
As the $15 minimum wage law currently stands, franchise owners with less than 500 employees are classified as big businesses despite their small businesses (under the law’s definition) status. The classification places franchise owners, who have three years to comply with the new wage law, at a disadvantage to their small business competitors, who have seven years. For that reason, IFA and small business franchise owners are claiming targeted commercial discrimination.
Certainly, there is quite a lot of evidence backing the IFA’s discrimination claims. As Shift reported, Seattle businessman David Meinert, a member of Mayor Ed Murray’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee (IIAC) which was charged with developing the $15 minimum wage law, said the following in a sworn statement:
“During the IIAC process, there was discussion about whether the Mayor’s minimum wage bill should treat small franchise businesses as large employers. I had several meetings with David Rolf [President of SEIU Healthcare 775NW and co-chair of IIAC] in which he told me that the purpose behind treating small franchise businesses as large employers under the minimum wage law was “to break the franchise model” and “enable labor unions to organize employees of such businesses.”
Seattle billionaire Nick Hanauer, who was also part of Murray’s (IIAC), emailed the following Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess:
“I am well aware that the compromise we fashioned classified most franchise owners as Large. This was our intent and I believe that there are very good reasons for this… In the piece that we wrote for the Stranger, Eric Liu and I asserted that we need to rethink the very nature of the capitalism that we want. The truth is that franchises like subway and McDonalds really are not very good for our local economy. They are economically extractive, civically corrosive and culturally dilutive. Can you think of anytime people got excited about the addition of one of these franchises to their neighborhood??? … To be clear, the net amount of food people in Seattle will consume will not change if we have fewer franchises. What will change is what they consume and from whom. A city dominated by independent, locally owned, unique sandwich and hamburger restaurants will be economically, civically and culturally rich than one dominated by extractive national chains. You can’t get more stuff at the Pike Place market than at a Walmart, but nobody ever flew around the world to go visit a Walmart.”
According to the Seattle Times, “Paul Clement, the franchise association’s attorney, told U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones the law violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by treating small franchisees differently than other local small businesses, purely because those franchisees are affiliated with interstate franchises.” Jones has said he hopes to rule on the preliminary injunction by next Tuesday.
Here’s a hint: any argument of the form, “McDonald’s is not a big business,” is not likely to pass the giggle test, let alone a court case.
We’re outlawing poverty wages in Seattle — and hopefully, in the state of Washington as well, soon. Therefore, any business model which depends upon poverty wages will not work here. When we outlawed slavery, the plantation business model was ruined — or, perhaps, “Gone With The Wind.” (Maybe someday, someone who never did it will write a nostalgic story about how great it was, working at low-wage jobs, shoveling out barely edible garbage for the local outpost of some international behemoth.)
Wow……… you really are a lunitic.
Your billionaire commissar has decided he doesn’t like Subway,and having deep enough pockets, he can just buy legislation outlawing it. Da, Comrade, that’s the Soviet way.
“In the piece that we wrote for the Stranger, Eric Liu and I asserted that we need to rethink the very nature of the capitalism that we want”
No, WE don’t need to rethink the very nature of capitalism we want. The nature of what we have works just fine. Why do liberals hate America so much?
Liberals hate the idea of independent freedom that can’t be controlled by the collective socialist ideals they love. Liberals can’t control America or its citizens without fundamentally changing the country. It’s one thing to control a state like Washington with their progressive eco madness, tax & spend job killing policy & socialist thinking, Its another thing to control 100% of the citizens with their free giveaways, they will never control the Republic, especially if more of them turn out like hamster brain.
Capitalism isn’t some god-given perfect economic system; it’s just the latest one of many we humans invented. We can experiment with it if we want. That critics of higher minimum wages have been proven dead flat wrong, right here in this state, over and over and over again, should tell you this, but you won’t listen. Too bad for you. You’re free to leave whenever you want.
I like the capitalist system we have had from the inception of our country, it works great if you let it. But when you make statements like yours, it’s clear that everything the far leftwing-nuts are thinking is crazy. You Hamster Brain are the one who is free to leave whenever You want, try China, Russia, Cuba, they are all using systems that you seem to like and it would be a lot quicker & cheaper to buy you a one way plane ticket to your preferred destination than change the everybody’s lives with your liberal nonsense.
I like the capitalist system we have had from the inception of our country, it works great if you let it.
That system included slavery. According to the plantation owners, it worked great; any white abolitionist was a traitor against such a successful capitalist system, and should either quit the crazy talk, or move to another country.
But when you make statements like yours, it’s clear that everything the far leftwing-nuts are thinking is crazy
As I wrote, we can change capitalism as we like. We’ve outlawed slavery, indentured servitude, child labor; required safety standards, instituted workers’ compensation, and minimum wages. Every one of these moves was decried by the capitalists of those days.
Anytime you want to explain how Washington state’s high minimum wage, low unemployment rate, and low poverty rate all fit together nicely, please do so. I’m not going anywhere, because I like these policies and intend to have us improve them — by raising the statewide minimum wage to (at least) $15/hour.
Indentured servitude has not gone away. People in this country are put in jail all the time for not making cash payment to a particular class of people. Regardles of their employment status. If one does better themselves that cash payment can actually inrease,but if the earnings go down the cash payment stays the same . This happens in King county far more than any other county in the state.
In a free market, I make the choice of how I spend my labor and money. I don’t presume to tell other people how they should live their lives and I’d appreciate the same courtesy.
When you accept using the force of government to impose your will on others you need to realize that when the pendulum swings back the other way, your political opponents will use the same tactics to limit your freedom.
All people should be free to decide who to work for and negotiate the best compensation they can without intrusive busybodies dictating terms.
LEFTIES HATE AMERICA AND LONG FOR THE DAY THAT THEY ARE LINED UP AGAINST A WALL AND SHOT.
Apperently, you keep pressing on the minimum wage raise with negative effect on the people and the economy.
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Your priority and the State’s priority is disturbing and needs to be redirected to the homeless. Give them care and jobs and quit ranting about slavery, minimum wage, lower poverty, and higher employment bull crap that is coming to an end.
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Do you realize that if you increase the rest of the State minimum wage to $15/ hour what will happen?
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1. The poor will get poorer due to higher cost of living that the corporations will pass down the extra expense down to the consumer to pay their employees or a smarter way would be lay off 1 in every 5 employees and increase workload for the rest. Put out or get out type of attitude.
**Either way you are screwed by paying higher prices for services or more unemployment will occur.** Therefore, you are back to square one with the minimum wage debacle.
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2. Now you know that the people that are making $15/hr at present time will not like the idea of being the minimum wage earner and will demand a raise from the employer. (This is a possibility or the workers would not be so greedy and be content with the $15/hr that they are earning).
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3. You and the rest in WA are a bunch of blind bats that cannot see that $15.00 minimum wage is not enough to cover for all expenses but cause lots of heartaches in the end. If you are working 40 hours per week you will earn $600 per week (gross pay). Let say 25% deduction on taxes and healthcare, you will take home $450 per week that is $1,800 per month. How much is the rent in WA State average $ 900 – 2000 per month? Depending how big is your family you need to have a bigger place to live (more rent to pay), take account for food and clothing expenses, utilitiies, transportation expenses, by the time the poor bastard pays off all his bills he will be on the red still owing someone. Darn, what to do next! Increase tax to take in more welfare receipients.
**I just gave you facts of life in the other side of the smoke and mirror show that your Big Daddy is showing you**
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In WA State to live comfortable with a family of 4 it takes at least $25/hour minimum wages, but then again the vicious cycle of the above 3 scenario I gave you will be in effect again if it is increased. As I mentioned to you on several times “Your Big Daddy is putting a Dog and Pony Show with large amounts of Smoke and Mirrors” so you can vote their corrupted anus back in the government.
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If you cannot see what I am saying you are just another sheeple idiot. Do you see what you are doing? You are cooking fish and spice it up with spices with the hopes that will taste like beef stew, but unfortunately it still smell and taste like fish. Since you are brainwashed I will explain it at your layman’s term. “If you keep voting the same corrupted people and their corrupted parties you will get nothing in return but a bigger yoke (more taxes), larger blinders (brainwashing you to follow and trust them) and no changes, same old stories.
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.If you haven’t realized by now that you are a legal modern day slave (yoke and the blinders wearer) of the system that you created you are a blind fool!
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Hurray to the 10% that can see passed the yokes, blinders, smoke and mirrors, and the pony and dog show.
Apperently, you keep pressing on the minimum wage raise with negative effect on the people and the economy.
How about you describe, with actual economic data, that “negative effect”? Because all you ever do is make predictions of doom — predictions we’ve heard before:
When wages are artificially forced up, all other costs go up as well. The price of groceries, gasoline, rent and other goods and services will increase. This will hurt working families and those on fixed incomes,especially senior citizens. […] Big government should not try to fix every economic worry. The marketplace has proven to be a much better regulator of the economy than the government. To help small businesses continue to offer good opportunities for young people and to keep prices from rising out of control, vote no on I-688.
I-688 passed easily, and it has raised our state’s minimum wage to the highest of any state in the union. What are the results?
March 8 (Bloomberg) — When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn’t been borne out.
In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to $9.32 — the highest in the country. Meanwhile job growth continued at an average 0.8 percent annual pace, 0.3 percentage point above the national rate. Payrolls at Washington’s restaurants and bars, portrayed as particularly vulnerable to higher wage costs, expanded by 21 percent. Poverty has trailed the U.S. level for at least seven years.
How are our small businesses doing?
In Washington state, small businesses are adding jobs faster than any other state in the country, according to a report from Paychex and IHS.
Again, if you can explain how every negative prediction about I-688 has since been proven dead flat wrong, then we might decide to listen to your predictions. Until then, you’re just wasting your time.
How that “copy and paste” work for you? Looks like you are good at using that function. Kudos for you.
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You are just blind and brainwashed.
“Again, if you can explain how every negative prediction about I-688 has since been proven dead flat wrong, then we might decide to listen to your predictions. Until then, you’re just wasting your time.”
BULLSHIT.YOU’RE DESTROYING THE STATE ECONOMY.
“Again, if you can explain how every negative prediction about I-688 has since been proven dead flat wrong, then we might decide to listen to your predictions. Until then, you’re just wasting your time.”
The alarming thing here is not the economic effects of raising the minimum wage, but rather the intent here (I can’t believe they actually said this out loud and published it!) to drive franchises out of business because they serve lousy food and are less desirable in our neighborhoods than locally owned sandwich shops. So…to get rid of them, just force them out of business. I don’t know who died and made these jerks kings who are in charge of what we buy and where we buy it, but they are NOT rulers. Except maybe in Seattle. I wish global warming was real and the glaciers were melting and the oceans and Puget Sound would rise and submerge Seattle. Just drown these liberal idealogues who do not deserve freedom and certainly do not deserve America!
There is only one alternative to this franchise problem. All franchisees need to pick up stakes and move to Eastern Washington. While this may duplicate some that are here already, there are some that are not in the Tri-Cities and other cities that could use the tax base without stabbing the business owners. There are other businesses which are not franchises that will face the same problem. These are nursing home operators and assisted living/nursing homes are predominately lower paid wages and when the LPN and the CNA are being paid the same, though the LPN is the senior person in charge, they will want a pay raise to match the responsibility. If LPNs leave, it places the license of these businesses at risk and RNs will not work there unless the pay is in accordance with the current rate and better working conditions ensue.
But, this will leave a number of unemployed people behind. Unions have always look for ways to circumvent the rules of the franchise and with Seattle, they will get it. In Seattle, unions get what they want. They will strangle Seattle and cost jobs. By costing jobs, they lose money for union dues. So, who wins? When will these people in Seattle learn? It will become unsustainable and the only thing left will be the ports.