Seattle City Council 4/5/22

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Council Member Morales.

Here.

Council Member Musqueda.

Present.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Present.

Six present.

Thank you.

Colleagues, if there's no objection, Council President Juarez is excused from today's city council meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council President Juarez is excused from today's council meeting.

We had previously excused Council Member Sawant from today's meeting as well.

Next on the agenda, presentations.

There are no presentations today.

Approval of the consent calendar.

And Council Member Lewis has joined the meeting.

Just so the public knows, welcome Council Member Lewis.

We will now consider the proposed consent calendar.

Are there any items council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

Okay, hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Council Member Morales?

Sorry.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Present.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Pro Tem Peterson?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The consent calendar is adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and the legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf.

Approval of the agenda.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be approved.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Public comment.

Colleagues, at this time, we will open the remote public comment period for items on the city council agenda, introduction, referral calendar, and the council's work program.

It remains the strong intent of the City Council to have remote public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

However, as a reminder, the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the systems being abused are no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

Currently, I believe we have about nine public speakers.

If there's no objection, we'll go ahead and give them each two minutes to speak.

And we don't need to extend the public comment period.

So they'll each get two minutes to speak.

Our city clerk will moderate this general public comment period, and I will now hand it off to her to read the instructions.

The public comment period for this meeting is up to 20 minutes and each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.

Speakers are called upon the order in which they registered to provide public comment on the council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number provided when registered and use the ID and passcode that was emailed upon confirmation.

Please note this is different from the general meeting listen line ID listed on the agenda.

If you did not receive an email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folders.

Once a speaker's name is called, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and an automatic prompt of, you have been unmuted, will be the speaker's cue that it is their turn to speak, and then the speaker must press star six to begin speaking.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.

Once you hear that chime, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.

If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time period, speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you have completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.

And if you plan to continue following this meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening line options listed on the agenda.

The public comment period is now open.

We will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of you have been unmuted.

The first speaker on the list is Maya Kelly.

Hi, my name is Mia Kelly, and I'm an organizer with Working Washington on the Pay Up Campaign.

I'm here in support of the Pay Up Ordinance on the introduction calendar today.

The Pay Up Campaign was created from the necessity of what gig workers want and need.

A good pay, flexible work schedule, the ability to work without harassment.

Workers found this type of work to be enjoyable, satisfying, and suited their needs.

Workers that had taken pride in their work, I know personally because I'm a former Instacart shopper.

I personally witnessed and felt the effects of the companies changing their contracts over and over again, lowering the pay and making the job worse time and time again, putting us all in a financial tailspin.

Today, over 40,000 workers in our city are only offered sub-minimum wage, excluded from basic worker protections, responsible for all ever expanding expenses and on a downward spiral to be the next poverty level.

The working hand to mouth.

We gig workers have been working on creating standards and laws for ourselves for a long time now.

And after years of organizing a year of stakeholder meetings and policy development it's time for Seattle Seattle city leaders to deliver for gig workers by advancing our policies to raise pay protect a promise a promise flexible schedule and provide meaningful transparency to those that are working in the gig industry.

The gig economy has grown by leaps and bounds, and even though they haven't had the same look as other service jobs do, we can see the far-reaching effects that gig work has had on jobs that may traditionally have been a part of a company that now can be outsourced with a smartphone or computer.

We must take action now so that the standards are in place to protect workers and not demolish hard-fought labor protections.

This is a common sense policy that ensures workers are paid at least a minimum wage after expenses with the flexibility and transparency we need.

Thank you for moving forward today.

The next speaker on the list is Carmen Figueroa.

Hello.

Can you hear me OK?

Yes, we can.

Okay.

Hello.

So my name is Carmen Figueroa.

I'm a gig worker on Grubhub, and I'm here to support the payout policy.

Drivers are paid on average $3 to $5 per order.

If I break every traffic law and get super creative with parking, an easy order might take me 15 minutes.

Doing simple math, that's $20 an hour on the high end.

From that $20, I need to subtract my expenses.

taxes, gas, car insurance, and constant maintenance and repairs, like the cost of flat tires or a new battery.

That $20 per hour quickly falls below minimum wage after driver's expenses are calculated.

Apps promise flexibility and being your own boss, but in reality, they are the boss, controlling us with penalty and threats of deactivation.

Flexibility is not simply, I have some free time, let me log on and earn a little pocket cash.

For me, and thousands of gig workers like me with hidden disabilities, flexibility means the ability to work at the pace and intensity that I need on a schedule that I can manage.

Gig work is my only source of income and the only industry that allows me the flexibility that I need.

However, the promise of flexibility is being eroded as apps ramp up controls to maximize their own profit.

The payout policy would protect the flexibility I need while guaranteeing I'm also paid fairly for my labor.

Thank you for your support.

The next speaker on the list is Terry Herstad, and the following speaker after that is Michelle Balzer, who is showing up as not present.

Terry Herstad,

Hi, I'm Teresa, and I am here asking for support for the PayUp campaign.

I've been working with the gig economy since 2019 with the Handy app directly.

And in the past three years, I have seen and experienced with Handy alone a false promise of flexibility.

I've also seen a false promise of scheduling control.

I've seen blatant denial of responsibility by the Handy app in terms of customer service.

both towards contracting professionals and the client.

And HANI continues to this day to behave as a cleaning agency that hires employees rather than the technology company that they are actually billing themselves as.

And we know that the app contractor relationship has been broken for years.

And we know that there's been no demonstrated stewardship by app companies to fix this.

We need changes made to the contract.

And we know that contract changes have always been made by the apps.

We know that these changes have always favored the apps.

And we know that these contract changes have never favored contractors, regardless of the app.

None of these contract changes have ever favored contractors.

They've always favored the app.

And this is why today I'm saying, you know, blatantly with blatant logic.

We need your support of Seattle City Council in passing the payoff policy.

We need you to set the example of local legislation that develops and strengthens stewardship and partnership between contractors and the app companies themselves.

Because without quality partnerships, we will never become a better economy.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is John W, followed by Shelby Hanson.

John W, you're next.

Hi, my name is John W. I've been a gig worker on Rover for two and a half years.

I'm here to talk about why gig workers need the pay up policy.

As a Rover worker, I'm grateful for the level of control I have over my own schedule, but I think that it could be better.

Rover presents itself as just being a marketplace like Craigslist, where customers can find walkers and sitters, and there is some truth to that.

But the reality is that Rover exercises too much power over its workers to simply be considered a marketplace.

Rover still tries to control my schedule by lowering my search rating when I don't accept jobs that are within my preferences, meaning I won't be shown to potential clients as often, which hurts my business.

But the preferences that the app allows me to set are very primitive.

I believe that updating the app to allow for more customization would fix some of these issues, but ultimately it will never be capable of factoring in all the nuances of whether a job is worth it to me.

So I believe the search rating system needs to be replaced with an unbiased system.

The system could show sitters to clients randomly and allow the client to filter based on preferences that are important to them, like proximity, price, average rating, etc.

Being selective about which jobs I take allows me to make a decent amount of money per hour while still keeping things relatively affordable for the customer.

This directly impacts the amount of work I'm able to squeeze in a given time period, and the time I have outside of work to relax, spend time with my family, take classes, et cetera.

Also, in regards to pay, I believe that a pay floor consistent with minimum wage needs to be established for Rover and other gig working apps to avoid pay being driven down over time.

This needs to factor in the extra time and cost associated with being a contractor on each app.

It's important that workers are not only able to survive, but also take steps to improve their standard of living over time.

Thank you for supporting good workers.

Next speaker is Shelby Hansen.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

I'm Shelby and I'm a gig worker on Rover and I'm a member of the Pay Up campaign.

I work for the Rover app, which is a pet spitting and a dog walking service.

I thought it would be fun to work with pets and while I was pet spitting, I had some owners who were not honest with me and that left me with medical bills for being hurt by a dog.

The reason why I work for Rover isn't for the flexible schedule.

I have medical appointments that help me manage my disabilities, and these take precedence over a regular nine to five work schedule.

Without this type of flexibility, I honestly couldn't work.

So with the pay and without the health coverage, it's just not worth the dangers.

Rover also would also encourage gig workers to always maintain a low pay threshold In order to undercut other rover workers, this base pay is not enough to sustain a livable wage.

When you have to choose between food to stay alive, or transportation, or even rent, this is no way to live.

Changing your price point to something lower only hurts us.

It hurts all of us in the long run.

We need the Seattle City Council to pass the pay up policy for gig workers and set the pay standards for gig workers in 2022, because I need to be able to pay my bills and for basic survival.

We need your help.

Thank you for your time.

And it is much appreciated.

And I also just want to say that Rover, thank you for your time.

Our next speaker is David Haynes, followed by Jackie Morris.

David Haynes.

Thank you, David Haynes, District 7. Council Bill 120292. looks like another privileged abuse of tax dollars rewarding the human services department who redirected all that still needed money for homeless crisis shelters to other bad policy decisions that further undermine public safety.

Always seeming to use tax money buying off unions and service providers as a re-election apparatus hiding within government and non-government unions.

Never held accountable for a racist lens that judges skin color, and prioritizes BIPAC criminal repeat offenders to manipulate data and squander homeless crisis money while forsaking innocent homeless citizens denied another winter year of health.

as corrupt human services department gets another raise and privileged guarantee of failures to solve the homeless crisis exacerbated by bad policies and leadership treasonously and unconstitutionally running interference for low-level drug pushers, destroying lives daily, victimizing others, get treated like nonviolent misdemeanor, victim of inequity.

assisted by LEAD and Just Care model that has less than 50% success rate, mostly because of self-destructive, customs-violating, repeat-offending criminals undermining their fellow man are the only ones helped.

while innocent houseless suffer a liberal race war on innocent homeless citizens blamed for most crimes, judged based on skin color, and held only if more profitable wraparound services for inept politically connected non-profits.

Lying about the data, The public safety and the dishonest service provider hours of service never held honest by oversight from counsel, whose other bad policy of exempting crack meth and heroin pushers from jail, committing crimes against humanity with the non...

Our last speaker present is Jackie Morris.

Good afternoon, Council and Jackie Morris.

Thank you for including me today.

I am speaking on behalf of DriveForward.

I am the Engagement Director there.

I am a founding member of DriveForward.

We started in 2015. And I am here to just speak on behalf of our over 2,000 members, gig workers, and various app-based platforms that we are collectively excited about having been part of the stakeholder meetings with council member Herbold for the delivery pay standard.

I would like to voice our greatest concern about this proposed bill is it's what we are calling a one size fits all, that the delivery community is urging for change and upgrade, especially in light of what upgrades that have happened to the, the TNC statewide regulation and what's to come from that.

But we would like this bill to be focused on delivery gig work as it is a unique sector of gig work.

As we have heard in the stakeholder meetings for the better part of this last 12 months, that it has unique factors that affect, you know, like the cost.

And creating a standard is, of course, novel for the entire industry.

And as we're hearing from the gig workers that are a part of those stakeholder meetings, that it is a very challenging feat for companies and for the gig workers to manage.

So we do ask that the delivery standards be focused on delivery.

Thank you so much for your time.

I'm here for your comments, and we'll be sending in additional comments.

Good day to everyone.

Thank you.

I believe we've reached the end of the list of registered speakers.

So the public comment period is now closed.

I wanna thank everybody for calling in for their comments today.

We are ready to move on to the next part of the agenda, committee reports, which includes an item coming directly to city council that I mentioned at council briefing yesterday.

Will the clerk please read the short title of item one into the record.

Agenda item one, Council Bill 120292, relating to city employment, commonly referred to as the first quarter 2022 employment ordinance.

Thank you, colleagues.

First, I'll make a motion to put the bill before us for consideration, and then I'll go ahead and address it.

I move to pass Council Bill 120292. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

On behalf of Council President Juarez, I will address the bill and then open the floor to comments.

As I mentioned at yesterday's council briefing, we have for consideration from the executive council bill 120292, which is the first quarter 2022 employment ordinance.

Council President Juarez is the designated sponsor of the bill from the executive.

So I'll go ahead and provide the summary crafted by our city council central staff that I conveyed yesterday.

As is standard practice, the council authorizes certain city personnel actions through quarterly employment ordinances.

The 2022 first quarter employment ordinance before us today would authorize the director of the Seattle Department of Human Resources to take the following actions.

return nine positions to the civil service system, adjust the pay zones for four discretionary paid programs in the legislative department and office of city auditor, and update code provisions on bereavement leave to reflect agreements with city unions.

City council central staff analyst Karina Bull had prepared a memo which was included on the agenda for your review.

And so the Seattle's Department of Human Resources recommends approval of this bill.

Are there any comments or questions about the bill or central staff member?

All right, and again, this was discussed yesterday at council briefing and city council central staff did analyze this for us and their memo is on the agenda.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council member Herbold.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Adoption of other resolutions, there are no resolutions for introduction and adoption today.

Other business, is there any other business to come before the council today?

Okay, well colleagues, this concludes the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on, oh, Council Member Herbold, please.

Thank you so much, my apologies.

I do want to request to be absent next Monday.

Okay, thank you.

If there's no objection, Council Member Herbold is excused from, did you say the next city council meeting?

The briefings meeting on Monday.

The briefings meeting on Monday.

There's no objection, Council Member Herbold is excused from the next city council briefing meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Wood is excused from the next City Council briefing meeting.

Is there any other business colleagues?

Okay.

Colleagues, this concludes the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is on April 12, 2022 at 2 p.m.

I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon and we are adjourned.