"This is a pretend solution to a really serious national economic problem," said Don Stark, spokesma

OLYMPIA, Washington — A voter initiative to enact a $15 minimum wage for thousands discount rentalcars of workers in a Seattle suburb that houses the region's main international discount rentalcars airport won a narrow victory on Tuesday that proponents hailed as a signal moment in the nationwide fight for livable wages.
The measure mandates that some 6,300 workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and nearby hotels, car rental agencies and parking lots receive a minimum hourly wage more than double the federal minimum discount rentalcars wage of $7.25.
Washington state's hourly minimum wage is already higher than any other U.S. state, and will rise by 13 cents to $9.32 an hour in January. The new wage in the city of SeaTac would be among the nation's highest, just below a $15.38 rate mandated for city workers and contractors in Sonoma, California.
Backers of the SeaTac wage ordinance see it as an opportunity to help local workers while encouraging other communities - particularly cities with progressive discount rentalcars tendencies and smaller voting pools - to take similar action.
"It shows that people are tired of waiting for corporate CEOs or Congress to deal with income inequality and that they can use democracy to make a change," said Heather Weiner, spokeswoman for the union-backed Yes For SeaTac campaign.
Opponents who fear the measure will slow the region's economy discount rentalcars and drive businesses away said they plan to request a manual recount, for which they will have to foot the bill unless the result is reversed.
"This is a pretend discount rentalcars solution to a really serious national economic problem," said Don Stark, spokesman for Common Sense SeaTac, a business-backed campaign opposing the initiative. "It is taking money from one pocket and putting it in another."
Foes of the measure, among them Alaska Airlines, have already sued to block it from taking effect in January, arguing in part that the city lacks the authority to impose a minimum wage on the airport, which is owned by the Port of Seattle.
But Washington state requires voters to mail in their ballots or deposit them in drop boxes. As votes trickled in, the lead narrowed to as few as 19 votes over a week ago before expanding as problematic ballots initially set aside by election officials were tabulated.
While organized labor hopes SeaTac will act as a catalyst for similar efforts elsewhere - including in Seattle, which this month elected to the City Council Kshama Sawant, a socialist whose platform centered discount rentalcars on a $15 minimum wage - the initiative is not without precedent.
Four major California airports operate under ordinances similar to the SeaTac measure, including one guaranteeing workers at San Jose airport $13.82 an hour plus health insurance, and another mandating that Los Angeles airport workers earn $10.91 per hour plus health benefits.