AN ORDINANCE relating to the Office of Labor Standards; amending Section 14.19.025 of the Seattle Municipal Code to remove the authority to pay a subminimum wage to people with disabilities as set forth in RCW 49.46.060(2).
Thank you. Congratulations. Please read agenda item number three into the record. Agenda item number three Council Bill 119220. An ordinance relating to the Office of Labor Standards amending Section 14.19 .025 of the Seattle Municipal Code to remove the authority to pay a sub minimum wage to people with disabilities as set forth in R.S. W 49.40 6.0602. The committee recommends the bill pass. Thank you, Councilmember Mosquito. Thank you, Mr. President. I am extremely, extremely honored to bring this piece of legislation forward after many years of advocacy from the community that you heard from today. This piece of legislation builds on some of the work that I've done in the past. I've spent many years working on labor standards, making sure that we make sure that every worker gets paid at least the minimum wage that we stand up when wage theft is occurring, and that we make sure that all work has dignity. All workers deserve the right to earn at least the minimum wage. That is why it is called the minimum. And today, with the passage of this bill, we are seeing that all work has dignity and all workers deserve that same respect. As you heard from the public testimony this morning, I'd like to reiterate that this was a piece of legislation, a model that was introduced at the federal level in the 1930s. It was designed at a time when there was extremely low expectations, when there was very few opportunities for education and employment opportunities for those with disabilities. The idea was to create sheltered employment at a sub minimum wage to train people how to get into new jobs. But the reality is, as we heard from public testimony today and last week, far too many people are getting stuck in these sub minimum wage jobs for years, sometimes decades. It is imperative for us to move past this model. The new technologies that are at our fingertips, including those here in the city of Seattle, can make employment a possibility for all individuals, including those with disabilities, and create opportunities for education and employment programs throughout their life. I am extremely honored to be able to put forward this piece of legislation and work with you to make sure that we continue to invest in good living wage jobs, not just the minimum wage jobs. I think that it's important to note that the University of Washington's Center for Women's Welfare and their Self-sufficiency Standard report said that according to their 2017 data, a single parent in Seattle needed to make over $3 an hour to support two young children. That would mean two full time jobs if you were able to even get the minimum wage. So here today, we're making sure that everyone at least has access to the minimum wage and that we correct, I think, efforts that are decades old to make sure that everyone can at least earn the minimum wage. I want to also make sure that we recognize Councilmember Herbold and the Office of Labor Standards Work that was initiated last year to eliminate the ability for Office of Labor Standards to issue those certificates so that late last year there was no further certificates for some minimum wages. Thank you for your work on that director's role. And as of today, we're putting that commitment into law. One of the main changes we've also made in from the director's role is around language, because language and words matter. We are removing phrases like deficiency and impairment from public policy, and we're wanting to make sure that this is removed also from the state level in the RC w. RC W. So I'm working with the Office of Intergovernmental Relationships to make sure that next year we advance a legislative agenda to take this language out of our state statute as well. Thanks again to the Commission for People with Disabilities. Thank you so much to the National Federation for the Blind Washington chapter. Thank you to Disability Rights Washington. Thank you to Patricia Lee from central staff for your work on this and Corina Bull and Marti Garfinkel from OAS. Today's legislation reflects changes that were also suggested from Council President Harold offers. We're greatly appreciative of all your work. But I do want to underscore lastly, this came from community. This came directly from the workers impacted. Thank you so much for your advocacy ongoing. We are now following three other states that have taken the same effort and we will be the first city to enact this policy. So thank you for all your incredible work for so long. Thank you. Councilman Mosqueda, any other comments from any of my colleagues? I'd like to just say a word, and that is I'm very proud to support this ordinance. And I think it's the right thing to do now. And I think the advocates for coming out and expressing their opinions and their voice. One thing that concerns me as we enforce this ordinance is that we do know that people with disabilities are actively discriminated against both in housing practices and in employment practices. And one of the factors that we considered all things equal and we did not have this as part of the code, is whether this would actually help people with disabilities gain employment and gain opportunities knowing that active discrimination actually occurs. We've actually tested this and invested money into testing practices to see if people with disabilities are discriminated against. And guess what? We found out that they were. So I think what's going to be equally important as we look at our investment opportunities and our budget and our workplan for SE OCR is that we monitor this to make sure that it is. It works as well as it looks on paper. And I know that we have a council and a city that are committed to making sure it works. And so, Councilmember Skate, thank you for advancing this legislation. I look forward to supporting it. Any other comments? OC Please call the role on the passage of the Bill Vachon Gonzalez. Herbold High Johnson Juarez must gather AI O'Brien and Council President Harold Aden favorite and opposed. Bill passed and chair of the Senate. Please read the next agenda item.