The Spokesman Review editorial board has urged a “no” vote on Proposition 1, the city’s so-called “Worker Bill of Rights.” As the editorial board states, the proposition would be more appropriately named the “Remaining Worker Bill of Rights.”
Proposition 1 seeks to enforce the highest minimum wage in the nation—advocates estimate $17 per hour—in Spokane. The proposition does not specify an actual minimum wage. According to estimates, the actual minimum wage could be more like $20 plus per hour. The Washington Policy Center explains,
“Proposition 1 would require Spokane city businesses with 150 or more employees to pay an unspecified “family wage.” City officials would set the wage based on certain rules…
“If the City does not calculate a ‘family wage,’ employers would be required to pay wages of three times the federal poverty level for a family of two, or any family wage previously calculated by the City of Spokane, whichever is higher. Three times the 2015 poverty level for a family of two is $47,790 per year. How an employer would be required to convert this to hourly wages is not explained. Assuming the national average of 1,700 hours per year, the hourly wage would be about $28.11 per hour.
“It is unknown what wage, ranging from $11.85 to $28.11 per hour, would be the mandated family wage rate under Proposition 1.”
The extraordinarily high minimum wage, mixed with all the unknowns, promises to create a more than a little unfriendly business environment. Beyond the increased operating cost burden on businesses, the proposition creates an environment that encourages businesses not to grow or to cut back on their work force. The Spokesman Review,
“If you already have a business in Spokane, do you aspire to grow your workforce to more than 150, where the “family wage” provision kicks in? If you employ 160 or 170, do you lay off 10 or 20 to escape the requirement?”
Adding insult to injury, Prop. 1 ensures that businesses will have no right to challenge any part of the law in court. Yet, it allows “any person” to sue the City of Spokane for “failing to comply with Prop.1’s family wage provision.”
The Spokesman Review editorial board writes, “There is hardly a word in Prop. 1 that is not an invitation for litigation that will bankrupt businesses and cripple the city.” Prop. 1 would effectively make Spokane a “lawyers’ paradise.”
Ladies and gentlemen, the far-Left hard at work destroying jobs and aiding special interests – East of the mountains.
$28.11/hr? Do it. Please. It would be awesome to see Spokane crash and burn in epic fashion. Too bad you they can’t take down Seattle’s favorite communist agitator with them.
Spokane city government is full of communist and crooks. Dig in to why the Spokane Assessors office had all their home assessment records destroyed. Residents in Spokane probably don’t know their homes weren’t really assessed but were charged what the city wanted to get out of you.
A prime example of Idiots who never had to meet a payroll, pay the rent and bills associated with keeping the doors open, and return taxes out of the money coming in. So what is the businessman suppose to live on? With all the unbillable hours most Mom and Pop businesses work, they make less than minimum wage when everything is said and done.