Seattle’s baristas will now make $15 an hour to pull espresso.

If you’re living in Seattle, Washington, you’re about to get a major pay increase.  Washington state has the highest minimum wage of any state in the union, with the lowest any employee can make being $9.32 an hour.  That’s a pretty good start.  You’re not exactly making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but as far as a job delivering pizzas go, that’s pretty good money.  It’s about to get better.  Seattle’s city council has passed an ordinance raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

“Our victory is not complete, but we have fought until the last day, the last hour, against all the loopholes demanded by business,” said socialist Seattle city council member Kshama Sawant, who worked with a group called 15 Now to get the law changed. “$15 in Seattle is just the beginning.”

The rates will increase over the next three to seven years, depending on the size of the business and the current employee benefits level.  Teenagers will still exempted from the minimum wage law, allowing employers to pay teenagers below $15 an hour.  The bill will take effect in April 2015 and was passed by the city council with a vote of 9 to 0 in favor.

Tags: seattle, washington, seattle city council, seattle passes minimum wage, highest minimum wage in the country, seattle passes highest minimum wage, kshama sawant, 15 now, minimum wage laws, ed murray

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