Letter: Vote to give workers a raise, which will boost economy

The subject of a living wage has garnered much attention during this presidential election. Bernie Sanders was perhaps its most prominent champion. In Washington, the lowest paid workers in the cities of SeaTac and Seattle are on their way to a minimum wage of $15 per hour. Their counterparts around the rest of the state, however, still scrape by on $9.47 per hour, which isn’t enough to get by no matter where you live.

My town of Snohomish is one area affected by the lower wage. I had to go no further than a nearby grocer to get a first-hand account. An employee there told me that new hires earn a starting wage of $9.52 per hour, a hair above the statewide minimum. These new hires must wait a whole year before accruing paid sick time. A number of the lower paid employees raise families and receive some form of public assistance.

Initiative 1433 will get us closer to the ideal of a living wage. It shall raise the state minimum wage in increments to $13.50 per hour by 2020. Over 730,000 workers would benefit from the wage increase. In addition, I-1433 will allow all workers to earn paid sick time — one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked. Over 1 million workers would benefit from this part of the initiative.

When workers aren’t paid enough to be customers, it hurts businesses. It is time to fix this deficiency. Let’s pass I-1433 to give workers a raise and boost our economies!

Michael Brewer

Snohomish