Minimum wage was not designed to be a wage people lived on. It is in fact a minimum wage. If you only can work at a minimum wage job then there is something else that needs to be looked at. The stories I read were stories about an employee that has been doing the same job for the last for years. Why? Why not do better, work harder? I am 36 and I have never been in the same role for more than three years. Learn, improve, work hard, and move on. no reason to be the same gas pump guy your entire life and think someone should pay you more for doing the same thing every day.

"Alaska Airlines... will carefully review the full decision as we determine the appropriate next steps."

Cue the appeal. Take it all the way to the SCOTUS! Waste time and money!

I love Alaska Airlines, but hate that they are doing this.

@2- "Minimum wage was not designed to be a wage people lived on."

That is a lie. The living wage was intended to be a living wage. Until the 1980s it was.

The libertarian bullshit you spew afterwards is fine for you. The majority of the people in this world just want to do an honest days work for an honest days pay rather than hopping from job to job trying to up the down escalator.

@2:

Welcome to the 21st Century when millions of U.S. Citizens are forced to work MW jobs - often more than one - in order to keep a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and food on their table. You can thank a lot of people for this situation: multi-national corporations (hey, they're people too now!) that outsource jobs to foreign countries where labor is cheaper; politicians who believe said corporations shouldn't have to abide by collective bargaining agreements; predatory banks who put most young people who seek a college education into a state of literal indentured servitude for most of their adult lives; greedy Wall Street brokers who finagle the markets, causing severe economic recessions that wipe out savings, put homeowners into underwater mortgages, and eviscerate retirement portfolios; and a general Capitalist system that treats human beings as disposable, replaceable components in a giant machine that rewards a handful of investors who sit back and do nothing but watch the money roll in, over the countless numbers of workers whose labor generates their wealth for them.

Perhaps that's not what MW was ORIGINALLY designed for, but that's what the system, in its endless, rapacious hunger to consume resources, including human labor, to generate profit has turned it into. The mythical bootstraps by which millions are supposed to be able to lift themselves out of penury only exist for a handful, and those are mostly young white, college-educated males who work in professions far out of the means or skill-levels of the people at the bottom. Telling them to "improve themselves" is only effective if there are positions waiting for them to improve into, and the truth is, while there are some, there aren't nearly enough, even for those otherwise qualified to perform them. And in the meantime, you STILL need people to flip the burgers, scrub the toilets, make the beds, load the luggage, pump the gas, and pick the fruit. And no matter WHO it is or how LONG they've done it, those people deserve to earn a LIving Wage, regardless of how far down the ladder they may be.

If you fly with Alaska, let them know your stance on this issue.
I sent this through their Feedback Form: https://www.alaskaair.com/feedback?lid=f…

"I was heartened to read about the Washington State Supreme Court uphold the ordinance that airline workers deserve a $15 hourly wage based on the ordinance passed two years ago. Though that gladness was tempered by the statement from your spokesperson, Bobbie Egan, made about "appropriate next steps".
Those next steps should include back pay to the employees effected by this decision. These are workers who most directly impact the journey of the customers you claim is your paramount concern. That 20 minute bag guarantee requires baggage handlers to work at their most efficient- something that's hard to do when you're worried about rent, food, or maybe clothes for your kids. A living wage for people who clean, refuel, and take care of the mobility challenged should be a given, not subject to a court battle.
For the most part, I like Alaska Airlines as a company. I have been treated well over the past 10+ years I've been a customer, but I think twice about doing business with a company that thinks it's front-line workers don't deserve to be actual employees, let alone be paid a living wage.
According to financial news, Alaska Airlines is doing quite well for itself: http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Jour…
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/ala…
I'd like to see those profits pay for quality employees who want to come to work and give their best, knowing the company they work for values their service."

Bitch better have my money.

Why does it matter what Sawant has to say about this? Did she do anything other than show up for photo ops with respect to County prop 1? Oh yeah, The Stranger is the campaign office for Sawant.