Seattle Mayor Says $15.00 Minimum Wage Won't Fly — Unexpectedly!

Heh, well I'm sure no one could have seen this coming, lol.

At the New York Times, "Seattle Mayor Says Effort to Build Agreement on $15 Minimum Wage Has Faltered":

SEATTLE — Mayor Ed Murray of Seattle said Thursday that his effort to build consensus behind raising the city’s minimum wage to $15, more than twice the federal rate, had faltered amid continuing differences between business leaders and labor unions that had been advising him on the issue.

“We’re stuck at the moment,” Mr. Murray said in a news conference where he had been expected to present a proposal for raising the wage to one of the highest in the country. Instead, Mr. Murray, a Democrat and former state senator who was elected last year on a promise to fight economic inequality, said the negotiations were continuing on a committee of elected officials and business and labor interests that he had appointed to develop a wage plan.

The mayor said that he was as committed as ever to a $15 minimum wage, with a cost of living adjustment mechanism that would push the wage to $17 over time — and that the committee had agreed in principle on that much as well. But after the committee could not reach agreement by a deadline this week, he said that he had decided to let it continue its deliberations to avoid having the issue placed before voters this fall as a ballot initiative, a move threatened by some labor advocates.

A protracted fight over such an initiative might lead to “class warfare,” the mayor warned. “I’m probably less optimistic than I was this morning, but I still remain optimistic. If this fails, we’ll try something else until we get to $15.”

Many owners of restaurants and other small businesses have said in recent days that a $15 minimum wage, especially if tips could not be counted toward that total, would lead to staffing cuts. Meanwhile, a socialist council member, Kshama Sawant — elected last fall on a specific plank to push a $15 wage and appointed by Mr. Murray to his committee — has kept up a constant drumbeat of pressure on the issue, saying she would oppose a gradual increase in the wage or any exemptions that would diminish its impact.

Washington already has the highest statewide minimum wage in the nation, at $9.32...

Keep reading.

And that Che-loving socialist Kshama Sawant just doesn't quit does she? Maybe she'll put Mr. Murray up before a firing squad if she doesn't get her way, heh.