♪
[overlapping voices]
I'm making $9.62 an hour.
- I've worked there
for three years,
I'm still makin'
nine bucks an hour.
- Nine dollars and 62 cents
an hour.
- I'm a liquor clerk
in the liquor department.
- I work as a hostess...
- I'm the one
that stocks the shelves...
- I pretty much make the food
for you guys...
- ...delivery guy.
- I do food samples in Costco.
When I get my paycheck
it makes me really happy
because I earn it
with my hands.
♪
[Alan Krueger]
In the U.S.
the national minimum wage
started with Franklin Roosevelt
in the midst
of the Great Depression
in the late 1930's,
so that low-wage workers
can support themselves
and their families.
And then when Ronald Reagan
was elected president
he vetoed
minimum wage increases,
and from 1981 until 1990
the minimum wage
stayed constant
at $3.35 and hour.
Because we had inflation
in those years
it eroded the purchasing power
of the minimum wage,
and the value of the minimum
wage fell by over 20%
in that period.
We still haven't recovered
the value that was lost,
and what fair minimum wage is
continues to generate
lively debate.
[reporter]
And we're back out here live.
They're blocking the road
so the traffic
can't get through.
Seattle's mayor sent out
several tweets of support today
including one that said,
"I support fast food workers'
organizing effort
because they deserve
a living wage."
[man]
We did a strike,
and we actually went on site
and told 'em
we need more money.
There's some people
who actually walked out
of the store
while we showed up on strike.
It was really exhilarating
for me.
[man]
What was exciting was just
to know that, you know what,
this is right, this is
the right thing to do.
This should have been done
a long time ago.
[chanting] Are you fired up?!
- Can't take it no more!
[woman]
The entry-level's,
as nicely as I can put it,
is basically the crap job.
$15 an hour will have
a huge impact.
[Kshama Sawant]
It is incumbent
on Seattle's leadership
to vote for
the interests of workers.
Globally you see
the number of billionaires
increasing,
but poverty is also increasing
and magnifying.
When workers walked out
in Manhattan, in 2012,
the demand for 15 really wasn't
all the way on the other side
of the continent in Seattle.
[Jasmine Donovan]
There is economic inequality,
and it's a byproduct
of our free market system,
but, unfortunately, the more you
do to fix that inequality,
the more you put at risk the
potential for economic growth.
By raising the minimum wage
you're actually
dis-incentivizing
fast food companies
and any business
to do more than what
they already do.
[Angela Cough]
Last year
our bakery had a little
over 35,000 labor hours.
So we would have to bring in
an extra $45,000
worth of revenue,
and, or cut costs
for every year
for the next ten years,
based on an increase
to $15 an hour.
That's a pretty heavy burden
to bear
on a small business.
It's going to end up resulting
in an increase in prices,
and the potential cut-back
in labor,
or service hours,
or product offering.
Something has to give.
[Molly Moon Neitzel]
I have six ice cream shops
in Seattle.
I do see
my bank account declining
over the next few years,
but I would rather that
than...
...feeling like my employees
might need to go
to a food bank.
You know, I get a pension
from the Navy,
but with the price of food,
rent, and clothing,
it's not enough.
[Howard Behar]
We've gotta figure out how
to get more money
in the hands of our people.
You know, we've gotta
move minimum wage up,
but at $15 an hour
you just won't be able
to hire inexperienced people
and spend the money on
developing their skills.
You better have people that can
hit the ground running.
[Madi Fehrenbacher]
The $15 minimum wage movement
is a little bit ridiculous.
I know that I definitely
don't deserve $15 an hour
seating people or serving them
drinks and such.
[woman]
I look at the purpose
of the minimum wage
as an opportunity for anyone
to learn, grow, then move on.
[Sawant]
If you're a dishwasher
or a server at McDonald's
is your rental price
any different?
Do you get to go to your
landlord and tell him or her
"Well, you know,
I'm an entry-level worker
so you're
an entry-level landlord.
Can you wait for six years
before I can pay your rent?"
No, it doesn't work like that.
I just focus every day
on gettin' money for the kids.
You know?
And so every day is just that.
I was unemployed
for nearly two years
before the unemployment
ran out.
I was applying left and right,
anything I could find.
I'm doing what I have to do,
but at this age it's scary
to think that I'm 54.
Another ten years I'll be,
like, at retirement age
and I have no savings left.
That was all obliterated.
[Ed Murray]
I believe people needed to be
walked up right to the cliff
to look over and see that
we would basically
end up in a mini class war
in this city,
um, if we weren't able to find
a way to compromise.
- Licata.
- Aye.
- O'Brien.
- Aye.
- Sawant.
- Aye.
[reporter]
The nation's highest minimum
wage is coming to Seattle.
The Seattle city council
voted unanimously on Monday
to gradually raise the minimum
wage over several years
to $15 an hour.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
[cheering, applause]
[Murray]
You move that wealth
back to the economy
and people go out and they buy
a microwave, or a TV set,
or they send their kid to
school for a higher education.
Those things
stimulate an economy.
[Elizabeth Contreras
speaking Spanish]
My out of reach dream
would be able to pay off
all my mom's debt,
buy her a new house,
and just completely
take care of her
for the rest of her life.
Have my own restaurant, maybe.
[filmmaker]
Do you think, realistically,
that you can... achieve that?
[sniffles]
No.
[crying]
No, I don't make money.
I'm gonna try to do
my best I can for my son...
...so he can get a better job.
Yeah.
[melancholy music ♪]
♪
