Labor groups and activists are backing Measure 1, a Feb. 11 ballot initiative which would remove many of those exemptions. It would tie Burien’s minimum wage to that of the neighboring jurisdiction of Tukwila, where the wage cap is currently $21.10, and set to increase with inflation.
“The reality is, with the minimum wage the city of Burien passed, most workers in Burien are not getting a raise,” said Jennifer Fichamba, a Burien resident who is helping lead the Measure 1 campaign.
Many local businesses supported the City Council’s minimum wage law, which passed in March last year and was amended to reflect a slightly higher wage in October, shortly after the initiative qualified for the ballot. Many of those business owners are now rallying in opposition to Measure 1. Eric Papczun, a Burien resident who owns a marketing company, has been leading the opposition campaign. He described the City Council’s minimum wage law as a thoughtful compromise, and argued that the exemptions Measure 1 seeks to eliminate are necessary to protect small businesses that can’t afford to pay workers the full rate.
The City Council’s law “was the result of one year of working with everybody to try to find some balance,” Papczun said. “There’s absolutely exceptions here in this thing, but they’re by design.”
The initiative campaign to get Measure 1 on the ballot was led by the Transit Riders Union, a progressive advocacy group that has campaigned to increase the minimum wage in other local jurisdictions in recent years. The debate over the Burien proposal is similar to the discussions in other cities, with businesses issuing dire warnings about being forced to close and advocates arguing that cost-of-living increases necessitate better wages.
Loopholes or compromises?
Under the law adopted by the Burien City Council, businesses with fewer than 20 full-time employees are exempt and allowed to continue paying workers the $16.66-an-hour state minimum.
Burien workplaces with 20-500 employees working within King County’s borders are classified as “medium” and have to pay only $20.16 an hour, no matter how many employees the company has nationwide. Local franchise owners with fewer than 500 employees also don’t count as a large business, even if they’re part of a franchise network.
Businesses with over 500 employees in King County are required to pay the full $21.16 an hour, but even then there are exceptions. Unlike other Washington jurisdictions with wage floors higher than the state’s, Burien’s minimum wage law lets employers count tips and benefits like health care to make up the $4.50 difference between its minimum wage and the state’s.
Papczun argued that letting employers count benefits and tips toward the total creates an incentive for employers to offer benefits. He also thinks workers would ultimately lose income if tips weren’t included.
“It’s been in our mindset forever that if you go to a restaurant, these people make their money off tips; if we take that away from people’s mindset then they’re going to tip less,” Papczun said.
Fichamba disagrees. She said counting tips and benefits toward compensation creates a “convoluted” system in which it’s hard for an employee to understand if they are getting a raise, which could lead to a worker ultimately earning less.
The Economic Opportunity Institute, a local policy advocacy group that contributed $1,422 in in-kind donations to the Measure 1 campaign, used census data to estimate that the city’s ordinance leaves 47% of people “working in Burien under a reduced wage standard.”
The Institute estimated that 71% of Burien establishments are classified as “small” under the City Council’s law, and described Burien’s minimum wage policy as “far weaker than other minimum wage laws in Washington.”
A Burien city spokesperson told The Seattle Times last month that the city doesn’t have its own estimate for how many workers are impacted by the ordinance. The city did not immediately respond to Cascade PBS/KNKX by publication time.
Fichamba criticized the city for sending mailers and buying advertisements that tout the Council’s minimum wage law as the “highest in the nation.”
“There’s so many exceptions in the wage that [the city] passed that maybe a handful of people are getting a raise, but the majority are not,” Fichamba said. “I think people are now just starting to realize ‘What? I thought I was supposed to be making $21 and change now, and I’m not making that.”
Measure 1 would remove the carve-out for tips and benefits and change how businesses are classified. “Small” businesses with fewer than 15 employees would have to pay $18.10 an hour; “medium” businesses with 15-499 employees total (not just in King County) would have to pay $19.10 an hour. Businesses with 500 employees or more would pay the full $21.10. It would also treat connected franchises like McDonalds as one business.
Measure 1 would also create a three-year phase-in period for medium businesses and a six-year phase-in for small businesses. By 2031, all businesses in Burien would be held to the same wage standard.
‘Tough choices’
Papczun thinks small businesses can’t afford to pay more. He said Burien has a large number of immigrant-owned restaurants and shops that operate on thin margins, and that many have told him they might have to make cuts or close if they’re forced to pay more.
“We’re afraid that this comes into play and they’re just forced to make some tough decisions,” Papczun said. “What sometimes folks don’t understand is that without these people in these communities, we don’t have the jobs.”
Fichamba argues that isn’t true.
“It’s not the minimum wage that’s going to cost businesses more, it’s the cost of the lease they may have, it’s going to be the cost of food,” Fichamba said. “If you’re having trouble running your business and raising a wage is going to make it harder for you, you might need to evaluate how you’re running your business.”
Papczun also has concerns about tying Burien’s minimum wage to Tukwila’s. He thinks it’s undemocratic and will erode local control. Fichamba said that’s not the goal.
“We really just want to be comparable to our surrounding communities,” Fichamba said. “Because a lot of our people are making choices to go and work in places where their wage is higher.”
The “Raise the Wage Burien” committee has reported raising $46,768 in campaign contributions. It has support from labor and activist groups like SEIU 775, Washington Bus and the Washington Community Action network.
The “Vote No for Burien” group has reported raising $5,400 from local restaurant owners, the Washington Retail Association and the CEO of the Washington Hospitality Association. David Meinert, who owns Huckleberry Square in Burien and two other Seattle restaurants, donated $1,900, the second highest contribution to the campaign. Meinert has long been involved in the local minimum wage debate and was a member of the committee that negotiated Seattle’s $15-an-hour minimum wage proposal in 2014. He also was a prominent figure in Seattle's restaurant and entertainment industry until 2018, when nearly a dozen women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct. Meinert denied the allegations and has never been prosecuted.
Papczun said he worries Measure 1 will pass because the idea gives people a “warm fuzzy” feeling, and because similar measures have passed with big margins in other jurisdictions.
“You’re voting for people to get a little bit more money, that’s an easy sell if you don’t understand the details,” he said.
Fichamba used to work in Tukwila as a school guidance counselor. When 82% of Tukwila residents voted to raise the city’s minimum wage in 2022, she said it had a big impact on the families she worked with. Parents were able to spend more time with their kids, she said.
“If I owned a business, I’d want to make sure that my employees were paid fairly,” Fichamba said. “That they would be able to live in Burien and not have to work multiple jobs in order to survive.”
Clarification 1:52 p.m.: This story has been amended to clarify that the Economic Opportunity Institute's $1,422 contribution to the Measure 1 campaign was in in-kind donations, and that the Washington Bus also made an in-kind donation.
