Seattle’s Mayor Ed Murray’s plan to phase in a $15 minimum wage over seven years with a temporary tip credit, was put in effect by voter approval of a radical charter amendment sponsored by the group 15Now. The charter amendment would force all large employers to begin paying $15 in 2015, and would give small business owners just three years to acclimate to the high wage. And the 15Now proposal would not allow for any tip credit. Since that approval, companies have started to move out of Seattle. A commercial property landlord has indicated that they have has multiple business not renewing their lease and have told them “It’s just too expensive to operate in the city.”
From January to June, the city lost about 1,300 restaurant jobs. In June alone, right after April’s $11-an-hour minimum wage took effect, the city lost 1,000 restaurant jobs. That was the highest one-month job loss since the Great Recession in 2009.
Seattle’s the canary in the coal mine. But Moonbeam didn’t get his nickname for nothing. Besides he’ll be retired somewhere when the fallout happens in CA. He knows where this is going to lead and could give a rat’s rearside!
http://www.westernjournalism.com/15-minimum-wage-looms-seattle-restaurants-close-doors/