Seattle, WA

Seattle Restaurant Workers Could See a Big Spike in Pay Next Year

Published

2 years ago

July 18, 2024

Seattle Restaurant Workers Could See a Big Spike in Pay Next Year

As restaurant owners wait for the Seattle City Council to deal with high delivery app fees, there’s another challenge facing their businesses, reports the Seattle Times: The minimum wage at restaurants could go up by as much as $3 next year. That would be a huge boost for many low-wage workers, and also potentially an existential threat for restaurants that rely on those workers.

As of 2024, the minimum wage in Seattle is $19.97 an hour, unless you employ fewer than 500 employees, in which case you are allowed to pay them $17.25, provided the difference is made up by tips or medical benefits. According to the Times, this exception was carved out during negotiations over the minimum wage law passed nearly a decade ago, as then-Mayor Ed Murray attempted to assemble as broad a coalition as possible for the groundbreaking wage hike.

When that law went into effect in 2015, everyone was referring to it as a “$15 minimum wage,” then seen as a high number. (Small businesses then had to pay workers an $11 minimum wage.) Since then, Seattle’s minimum wage has risen beyond that number because the law ties it to inflation; Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards will announce the 2025 minimum wage in the fall. But the provision that allows small businesses to pay certain employees less will expire next year unless lawmakers take action, which means that in addition to the usual inflation-adjusted bump, smaller businesses will have to pay their employees as much as large ones do, and they won’t be able to factor tips into the equation.

This impacts the restaurant industry in particular because very few Seattle restaurant groups have more than 500 employees. The exception is Ethan Stowell Restaurants (ESR), which, the Times notes, hit that mark last year and responded by putting all workers, including servers, on an hourly rate and adding a service charge to checks.

“You either have to change the model next year or prices are going to go astronomically high or places are going to have to close down,” CEO Ethan Stowell told the Times.

The ESR example provides a window into how the industry could change if this small business exception expires. “The reaction among staff was mixed” at ESR, the Times writes. “For some, it was a positive, because it meant they earned more on sick days or when taking leave. Others quit.” This reflects a divide among restaurant workers — some want their pay to be more stable, while some servers and bartenders make good money thanks to tips and might see their earnings drop if they had to become hourly workers. Meanwhile, some customers really, really hate the service fees that tend to come with the hourly wage restaurant model.

According to the Times, restaurant industry lobbyists have been asking the City Council to make the small business exception in the minimum wage law permanent. But this is a tough ask. The Council also has other issues to deal with, and some members have conflicts of interest — Council President Sara Nelson is a co-founder of Fremont Brewing and still owns a portion of the company.

If politicians tried to tweak the minimum wage law, they would also face opposition from labor groups. David Rolf, a former union president who helped negotiate the law in the first place, was blunt about this when he spoke to the Times: “Undermining Seattle’s minimum wage law is political suicide for anyone who tries.”

Source link

Related Topics:a big could eater Featured front page in news Next pay restaurant Seattle See spike Workers year

Click to comment

Seattle, WA

WEST SEATTLE SATURDAY: 32 notes!

Published

11 hours ago

March 14, 2026

Press Room

(Friday photo by Jeff Johnson)

Happy Saturday! It’s still just a bit above freezing as we start the day, but the forecast calls for some sun and a high in the 40s. Our notes for today/tonight are as usual mostly from our West Seattle Event Calendar:

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES: Final weekend! Find times and locations for nearby cookie booths using the search tool here.

SATURDAY GROUP RUN: At West Seattle Runner (2743 California SW; WSB sponsor), you can join the Saturday 8 am free group run.

FREE MEDITATION: Get a calming start to your weekend with Heavily Meditated, 9 am free meditation at Inner Alchemy Studio/Sanctuary (3618 SW Alaska).

INTRODUCTORY WALK and WALKING FOR WELL-BEING: 9:30 am, walk a mile before the 10 am well-being walk (or just show up for that one). Both start from 47th SW and Fontanelle.

GET IT FIXED! Need help repairing something? Bring it to the fieldhouse at Steve Cox Memorial Park (9:30 am-12:30 pm) for today’s repair event – details in our calendar listing. (1321 SW 102nd, White Center)

SINGALONG BRUNCH: 10 am weekends, sing to classics and enjoy a breakfast buffet at Admiral Pub (2306 California SW), ticket link in our calendar listing.

SSC GARDEN CENTER: 10 am-3 pm, open today! New plants in! St. Patrick’s Day sale continues today. North end of campus at South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor)

STORY TIME AND CRAFTS: For the kids! 10 am at Highland Park Corner Store. (7789 Highland Park Way SW)

DAHLIA TUBER SALE: 10 am-3 pm sale. (4557 51st Place SW)

MORNING MUSIC AT THE COFFEEHOUSE: 10:30 am-noon at C & P Coffee (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor), Marco de Carvalho and Friends perform. Info about Marco’s music is here.

VILLAGE GREEN OPEN HOUSE: Learn about senior living at Village Green West Seattle (2615 SW Barton; WSB sponsor) by visiting during today’s open house, 10:30 am-noon.

FREE WRITING GROUP CANCELED: 10:30 am free, weekly, in-person, critique-free group will NOT meet today.

FAMILY STORY TIME: 10:30 am at High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond), for families with kids up to 5 years old.

FAMILY READING TIME: At Paper Boat Booksellers, 11 am family reading time. (4522 California SW; WSB sponsor)

LOG HOUSE MUSEUM: The home of West Seattle’s history is open, noon-4 pm (61st SW and SW Stevens).

VIETNAMESE CULTURAL CENTER: The center is open for community visitors on Saturdays, noon-3 pm. Free. (2236 SW Orchard)

‘CHAOS NO MORE’ WORKSHOP: 1 pm, get ready for spring cleaning! Workshop at Inner Alchemy Studio/Sanctuary (3618 SW Alaska)

VISCON CELLARS TASTING ROOM/WINE BAR: Tasting room open, with wine by the glass or bottle – 1-6 pm at Viscon Cellars (5910 California SW; WSB sponsor).

NORTHWEST WINE ACADEMY TASTING ROOM, WINE BAR, STORE: Open 1-6 pm on north end of South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor) campus. Special event today: “St. Patrick’s Day Celebration: Join us for mystical wine, corned beef and colcannon!”

DROP-IN SEED PLANTING: 1-2:30 pm today and tomorrow for members of the Growing Gardeners Club at West Seattle Nursery (5275 California SW; WSB sponsor).

CABI SHOWCASE: Fashion at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (9131 California sW), 2 pm.

LEARN ABOUT PREPAREDNESS VOLUNTEERING: Neighborhood Emergency Hubs are where you’d go in case of catastrophe – and they run on volunteer power. 2 pm at High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond), come learn how to be part of yours.

FREE MASSAGE: 3-5 pm walk-in clinic offering short, specific massages at Nepenthe. (9447 35th SW)

‘ROOTED IN WHITE CENTER‘: At its new White Center HUB (8th SW and SW 108th), the White Center Community Development Association hosts the first official screening of its new documentary, 6:45 pm.

LIVE MUSIC AT THE COFFEEHOUSE: 6-8 pm at C & P Coffeehouse (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor), Travis Bear and Friends with acoustic music including Celtic sounds and fiddling. Free, all ages.

RANGER AND THE RE-ARRANGERS Live at Kenyon Hall (7904 35th SW), 7:30 pm, with “Hot Club Swing“ – get tickets here.

LIVE MUSIC AT THE MEAD CENTER: 7 pm at Mr. B’s Mead Center (9444 Delridge Way SW), The She-Shandies, perform a special St. Patrick’s Day show. No cover, all ages.

LIVE AT TIM’S: Irish Fest 3 at Tim’s in White Center, 7 pm. $10 cover. (16th SW & SW 98th)

NORTHWEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: “Music for the Soul” concert, 8 pm at Holy Rosary Church (42nd SW and SW Genesee), presenting “epic and uplifting pieces,” including two by Northwest composers. Tickets at the door.

REVELRY ROOM: 9 pm, Soul Focus FM with the tunes tonight. (4547 California SW)

SKATE PARTY: 9 pm-midnight at Southgate Roller Rink (9676 17th SW), with rotating DJs spinning old-school funk & hip-hop, $18 plus $5 skate rental.

KARAOKE AT TALARICO’S: Want to sing? Karaoke with Rone starts at 10 pm at Talarico’s Pizzeria. (4718 California SW)

Have a West Seattle event coming up? If community members are welcome, your event is welcome on our calendar, where listings are free of charge, always! Please email info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

Source link

Seattle, WA

Mystery orcas thrill Seattle-area whale watchers

Published

23 hours ago

March 13, 2026

Press Room

Mystery orcas thrill Seattle-area whale watchers

Three mystery whales have been surprising whale watchers from Canada to Olympia.

When somebody gets the thrill of seeing an orca in Northwest waters, that whale is almost always well known. Scientists have probably given it a number and documented its family tree, perhaps even its DNA. Whale lovers have probably given it a cutesy name, like Yoda or Kelp.

But on March 6, a trio of orcas showed up in Canada’s busy Vancouver Harbour, later heading south to Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia, that were a mystery to scientists.

For decades, researchers have compiled photographic catalogs of essentially all the orcas of the Pacific Northwest, including the endangered southern resident killer whales and the more abundant, mammal-eating Bigg’s killer whales, also known as transients.

Photos taken during the four days that the trio of whales spent in a busy harbor bounded by Vancouver’s Lions Gate and Trans-Canada Highway bridges showed these were Bigg’s killer whales, but they matched none of the whales in the catalogs.

“We couldn’t place these individuals,” said Jared Towers, head of Bay Cetology, a whale-research organization based in Alert Bay, British Columbia. “At first, the photos weren’t great quality, but from what we could see, these whales were new. It took a few days, but when we finally got good photos, we were able to confirm that they were indeed new whales for the region.”

Towers said it was very rare for a new orca to be spotted anywhere in British Columbia.

“In the Salish Sea, it’s absolutely unheard of,” he added.

RELATED: Rare orca superpod comes to Seattle

Higher-quality photos revealed the trio had highly unusual, circular markings, about the size of a large chocolate-chip cookie.

“One of the things that was really notable were these circular scars, which are remnants from cookie-cutter shark bites,” said Gary Sutton, a whale researcher with the Vancouver-based nonprofit Ocean Wise.

Cookie-cutter sharks live far from land in the deep, open ocean, usually in much warmer waters, typically south of Hawaii. The small sharks, sometimes called cigar sharks, spend their days 3,000 feet or more underwater and have undersides that glow green in the ocean depths. They rise closer to the surface at night.

How this tiny shark feeds might be its most unusual characteristic: It latches onto much larger prey with sucking lips and sharp teeth, then spins its body to remove a cookie-shaped plug of flesh from its victim.

“They’re micro-predators, like a horsefly or something,” Towers said.

All three of the orcas, a female and two younger males, had scars indicating they had spent time in cookie-cutter shark country.

RELATED: Bolder efforts needed to save Northwest’s endangered orcas, report finds

Word and photos of Vancouver’s mystery orcas reached marine biologist Emma Luck in Alaska. A year earlier, she had been alerted to a trio of mystery orcas in Turnagain Arm near Anchorage. Orcas are fairly common in Alaska but rare near Anchorage.

“Apparently, the whole of Anchorage had received the same news, because cars were packed into every available inch of highway pullouts and shoulders,” Luck said on Facebook. “People climbed on top of their vehicles, trying to catch sight of the three black dorsal fins cutting through the water.”

The Anchorage trio had never been documented before or since.

When Luck saw photos of the Vancouver trio, something clicked.

“To my astonishment, I recognized them immediately: they were our Anchorage whales,” Luck said.

“They have been spending time in the tropics, occasionally, and obviously, they’ve been seen up in Alaska, so they’re moving around a lot,” Towers said.

The well-traveled trio apparently left Canada on Monday and swam to Seattle, even entering the heavily industrial Duwamish Waterway before continuing south to Tacoma and Olympia.

“It was almost a year ago that these animals were seen up in the biggest city in Alaska, and the next time they were seen was the biggest city in British Columbia, of course, followed up by the biggest city in Washington State,” Sutton said. “So, these guys are on a little city slicker tour.”

An underwater microphone at the Highline College aquarium in Des Moines captured their calls as they swam into south Puget Sound on Wednesday.

It remains unclear which population of killer whales the mystery trio belong to. Bay Cetology has given them numbers: T419, T420, and T421, while California-based researchers with the Oceanic Research Alliance have given them competing monikers: OCX085, OCX086, and OCX087.

“My best guess is that they are either poorly documented Gulf of Alaska Bigg’s killer whales or perhaps far-flung visitors from the Aleutian Islands or Bering Sea,” Luck said.

The trio was spotted hunting seals at the Port of Olympia on Thursday.

Why these ocean-roaming predators have been hunting in such urban waters instead of their usual haunts is anyone’s guess.

Source link

Seattle, WA

St. Patrick’s Day fun heads to Seattle this weekend – MyNorthwest.com

Published

1 day ago

March 13, 2026

Press Room

St. Patrick’s Day fun heads to Seattle this weekend – MyNorthwest.com

St. Patrick’s Day might be on a Tuesday this year, but that just means the celebrating happens over the weekend, and that’s exactly the case this weekend!

Free events include downtown parade, Seattle Irish Festival

Saturday in Downtown Seattle, along the Seattle Waterfront, it is the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which will have floats, antique cars, bagpipes, and lots more. The parade is from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., but that’s not the only part of the celebrations.

The Seattle Irish Festival is taking over the Seattle Center this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday. The schedule is loaded with live music, Irish step dancing, cultural exhibits, activities for you and the kids, and some film screenings as well. So after you check out the parade, head to the Seattle Armory for more fun. These events are free to attend.

Other St. Patrick’s Day fun includes the Emerald City Irish Film Festival at the Pacific Science Center on Saturday and Sunday.

The St. Patrick’s Irish Festival at Pike Place is Saturday and Monday. Those 21 and up will need a ticket, plus there is a free celebration in Bothell at the McMenamins Anderson School that runs through the weekend.

Not into St. Patrick’s Day? Try Balkan dancing or an Oscars party

Saturday is Balkan Night Northwest 2026 at the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, and according to the event’s website, it is a yearly extravaganza celebrating music and dance throughout the Balkans here in the Pacific Northwest. You’ll need a ticket to get into the event, which is available on their website.

If you are looking for an Oscars watch party this Sunday, there are a few options. According to events12.com, there is a watch party at Urban Family Brewing in Ballard, the Clock-Out Lounge in Beacon Hill, the Watershed Pub in Northgate, and the Awards Watch Party at the Grand Cinema in Tacoma, which will have a red carpet, drinks, snacks, and a costume contest. These are just a couple of examples; look online to see if your favorite spot is putting on a party.

Holi festival, Kraken hockey, and more round out the weekend

Holi celebrations continue in Bellevue this weekend. At Crossroads Park, there will be food, a DJ providing the tunes, other musical performances, flash mob dance parties, a children’s zone, and plenty of powdered colors for you to buy and throw every 30 minutes. Kids 10 and under and college students will get in free, but you need to RSVP ahead of time.

In the world of sports, the Seattle Kraken take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Sunday at 5 p.m. Jet City Roller Derby has a doubleheader at Edmonds College on Saturday at 5 p.m., and for the golfers out there, the Seattle Golf Show is at the Washington State Fair Events Center.

What are you getting into this St. Patrick’s Day weekend? Let me know at paulh@kiroradio.com.

Source link