Seattle City Council Passes Ordinance to Criminalize Wage Theft
On April 25, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance that criminalizes wage theft, which is when an employer intentionally shortchanges an employee’s wages or benefits.
Congratulations to Sound Alliance member Casa Latina for its hard work on this significant victory for workers. Seattle now joins San Francisco, Austin, Kansas City and Denver in passing city ordinances against wage theft. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is scheduled to sign the ordinance within 10 days and in 30 days it will become law.
The Sound Alliance Strategy Team voted to support the Seattle ordinance at its meeting earlier this month. The issue of wage theft was first brought to the attention of Alliance members by Casa Latina, but it soon became clear that wage theft affected diverse members across numerous Alliance institutions. The Strategy Team voted to commission a Research Action Team to further explore the issue and identify potential opportunities for action.
If you are interested in getting involved, please email info@soundorganizing.org.
For more information, about the wage-theft issues, please see the following news articles below:
- City Council toughens penalties for wage theft
Seattlepi.com, April 25, 2011 - Seattle City Council Battles Wage Theft
KUOW, April 25, 2011 - Seattle City Council makes wage theft a crime
The Seattle Times, April 25, 2011
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