Tag Archives: seiu

David Rolf: The $15 Minimum Wage Fight

DavidRolfBack in 2014 we spoke with David Rolf, president of the Pacific Northwest branch of SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, about his efforts to raise Seattle’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, the widening gap between the haves and have-nots, and what happens to sustainability in the face of this trend. Since then, Seattle actually raised its minimum wage and what happened? The sky has certainly not fallen. In Seattle, unemployment has bottomed out to 3.5%, which is considered essentially full employment. Costco, the nation’s second largest retailer recently announced it will be raising the minimum wage for its employees to $13 an hour and discussions of increasing the minimum wage have played prominently in the Democratic debates. Today on Sea Change Radio we revisit host Alex Wise‘s conversation with David Rolf, covering the interconnections between economic and environmental health, and how a movement to improve wages and work conditions can also support efforts to protect the earth.