Seattle City Council 8/22/2

We are now recording, please begin.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Today is Tuesday, August 2nd.

This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council.

Will the Seattle City Council meeting please come to order?

It is 2-0-1.

I'm Deborah Juarez.

And will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Peterson?

Present.

Council Member Sawant?

Present.

Council Member Strauss?

Present.

Council Member Lewis?

present councilmember morales here councilmember nelson present council president was here seven present thank you moving along on our agenda if there's no objection councilmember mosqueda is excused from today's city council meeting hearing or seeing an objection, Councilmember Mosqueda is indeed excused from today's meeting.

Moving on in our agenda to presentations, Councilmember Nelson will be presenting a proclamation on National Farmers Market Week.

The proclamation will first be presented and then the floor will be open for comments from Councilmembers.

After Councilmembers' comments, we will suspend the rules to allow our guests to accept the proclamation and provide comments as well.

Councilmember Nelson, please present your proclamation and walk us through this.

Thank you, President, and good afternoon, everybody.

And this proclamation declares next week as Seattle Farmers Market Week.

Thanks to Jennifer Antost, Executive Director, for bringing this to our office.

So Seattle has more than 17 farmers markets in the city, from Columbia City to Pike Place to Capitol Hill to Ballard, Lake City.

And these farmers markets assist with the distribution of local fresh produce throughout Seattle, generate income that supports the sustainability of small farms, and also contributed more than $18.5 million to the local economy last year.

So the ongoing pandemic has been an important reminder that farmers markets assist with an important function of bringing community together and also act as meaningful outlets for new, beginning, BIPOC, and veteran agricultural and food producers.

And one amazing example this year is the growth of Lily's Salvadoran from market stalls at the West Seattle and University District Farmers Market.

to their own brick-and-mortar storefront on Avalon Way.

So these farmers markets also serve as incubators to long-term brick-and-mortar businesses.

So it is my honor to present Jennifer Antos to speak a little bit on our behalf.

I thank my colleagues for signing on to the proclamation, and I give the floor to Jennifer.

Thank you.

to allow our guests to accept the proclamation and provide some remarks.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the council rules are indeed suspended.

And Jennifer, you have the floor.

Thank you, Council Member President Juarez.

And thank you, Council Member Nelson, for the introduction and for coordinating the recognition of National Farmers Market Week.

I also want to thank the full council for your continued support and investment in our city's farmers markets, and more importantly, in equitable food access and in locally grown food.

The Neighborhood Farmers Markets is just one of several organizers in our city who collaborated on the proclamation.

Among them, Pike Place, Queen Anne, the Seattle Farmers Market Association, and the Delridge Farmers Market.

We all share a mission to strengthen our local food system by connecting Seattle residents directly to producers and food entrepreneurs.

And in turn, our markets have provided more equitable access to fresh, culturally relevant food sources.

Just last year, providing more than $1.2 million in local food to food insecure households in Seattle through programs like Fresh Bucks and Snap Market Match.

Our markets, as Council Member Nelson mentioned also, act as incubators.

She mentioned Lily Salvadorian, it's owned by Lily Anya Quintanilla and her family, and they sold in the markets for more than 15 years before opening their storefront on Avalon Way recently in West Seattle.

We are delighted to support and continue to support beginning BIPOC producers from environmentally conscious farmers to food entrepreneurs like Lily.

Again, I just want to thank you for your support of programs and policy that enable our markets to continue to serve the city of Seattle, neighborhoods from Lake City down to South Park.

Examples of that include Fresh Bucks, Snap Market Match, the continuous effort to reduce permitting barriers, not only for markets, but farm stands and local food businesses, and the City's recent support on the expansion and relocation of the Capitol Hill Market to the new light rail station in Kelterman-Rissewantz District.

Thank you again for the floor and for inviting me to accept the proclamation on behalf of my colleagues.

And thank you for everything that you do in our beautiful city.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Council Member Nelson, do you want to add anything else before we move on?

Is there anything else for my colleagues?

I think I've asked that before, but are you okay?

I think we're good.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Thank you for being here today.

So we are going to move on to the public comment portion of our agenda.

Colleagues, this time we will open the hybrid public comment period for the hybrid public comment period, the remote speakers.

This time we're going to do it in reverse.

I'm going to have, since we have eight folks in chambers, we're going to take the eight individuals that are in chambers first.

And then we will be followed by in person.

I'm sorry.

We'll do the eight people in chambers first, and then we will do the 48 folks that have called in or calling in remotely.

And because we have over 50 people, we are going to limit your comments to one minute.

We will do the in chambers folks first, and then we will move to the folks calling in remotely.

Madam Clerk.

Do you want to go ahead and I'm going to hand it over to you and you can go ahead and do the recording of the instructions.

So I'm having some technical difficulties with this.

OK, well, we can hold while we're.

Oh, there we go.

Hello, Seattle.

We are the Emerald City, the city of flowers and the city of goodwill, built on indigenous land, the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

The Seattle City Council welcomes remote public comment and is eager to hear from residents of our city.

If you would like to be a speaker and provide a verbal public comment, you may register two hours prior to the meeting via the Seattle City Council website.

Here's some information about the public comment proceedings.

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

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

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

A reminder, the speaker meeting ID is different from the general listen line meeting ID provided on the agenda.

Once a speaker's name is called, the speaker's microphone will be unmuted and an automatic prompt will say, the host would like you to unmute your microphone.

That is your cue that it's your turn to speak.

At that time, you must press star six.

You will then hear a prompt of, you are unmuted.

Be sure your phone is unmuted on your end so that you will be heard.

As a speaker, you should begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

A chime will sound when 10 seconds are left in your allotted time as a gentle reminder to wrap up your public comments.

At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted and the next speaker registered will be called.

Once speakers have completed providing public comment, please disconnect from the public comment line and join us by following the meeting via Seattle Channel Broadcast or through the listening line option listed on the agenda.

The Council reserves the right to eliminate public comment if the system is being abused, or if the process impedes the Council's ability to conduct its business on behalf of residents of the City.

Any offensive language that is disruptive to these proceedings or that is not focused on an appropriate topic as specified in Council rules may lead to the speaker being muted by the presiding officer.

Our hope is to provide an opportunity for productive discussions that will assist our orderly consideration of issues before the Council.

The public comment period is now open and 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.

Thank you, Seattle.

We will now begin with the in-person public comment.

If you still have not signed up and would like to provide public comment, please sign up at the podium in front of us, please.

The first person on the list is Maria Ann Hudson.

Hi, my name is Maria Hudson.

I'm the daughter of the retired Supervisor Lawrence for the City of Seattle Police, the daughter of a retired professor from the University of Washington.

I myself am an alumni.

I'm here to speak about school to prison pipeline trafficking, where white teachers are allowing white violence with impunity.

There are statutes in which they are routing us to civil complaint and avoiding preventing prosecution for criminal complaint.

What is important about this is that children are being trafficked, they're being abused, and then they're being criminalized.

There are violations of child protection rights where teachers, police officers, judges, prosecutors are supposed to protect them are not being enforced.

We're in our second lawsuit for child abuse with the Bellevue School District because of this.

Our next speaker is M.

Myers.

Hello everyone.

Hello everyone.

My name is Melike Myers.

Thank you for listening to me, to all of you.

I work for Amazon Fresh grocery store at Aurora Avenue, Seattle.

I need to tell you to work now on Ending Hazard Pay for frontline grocery workers.

We are getting COVID exposure notifications almost daily from our employers.

It costs us so much money.

I am not in a union, so I won't get any raise.

Only a big pay cut if you aren't hazard pay, especially during this 40-year high inflation.

Please follow council member Salon's lead and vote now on ending hazard pay for congressional workers.

It's a shame that council members are considering ending hazard pay, but while they are meeting remotely, recognizing the risk of in-person work.

I see only two people here.

Our next speaker is Olivia, and is Last name says Lynn S. I apologize.

Hi, my name is Olivia and I'm a member of USCW 3000. I'm here to tell the Democrats of city council to vote no on ending hazard pay.

The fact that a lot of you thought that we wouldn't hear your tiptoeing around on trying to get rid of hazard pay for the fourth time just tells us grocery workers that you think we're blind.

No matter how you slice it, losing the $4 will be a major pay cut for most of the union members.

And that does not even include the grocery workers that don't have a union.

We are constantly dealing with coworkers being exposed to COVID and now monkeypox.

We starve while stocking the shelves.

And some of us have no home to go to after working 12 hour shifts.

We put our physical and mental health and families at risk.

Don't bite the heads of the workers that fed your city.

Thank you.

My next speaker is Thomas Dagley.

Hello, Council.

My name is Thomas Dagley.

I am not a grocery store worker currently, but I moved to Seattle looking for work in the grocery sector.

But unfortunately, I decided against it because I thought that you would remove the hazard pay in an untimely manner, providing little to no ability to take care of my family and have an apartment here in the city.

So I think that it's important for you all to recognize that you're removing one of the most important bedrocks of your community's ability to contribute back to Seattle.

Removing that $4 will cause people who work in the city to spend their money elsewhere.

And that's not going to help anyone except for the people that own these giant grocery store chains.

I think that it's kind of funny that you're all here remotely, except for two of you.

And you're asking us all to mask up in the building 10 people died just a few days ago from COVID and every day more and more people die, yet you're still asking people to come into the grocery stores to work.

So please vote no and do not end the hazard pay until the war is over.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Alex Zimmerman.

They hire dirty, damn Nazi fascist mob, bandit and psychopath who speak to us from the heaven.

My name is Alex Zimmerman.

I honestly sick and tired from bandit who come from Southern Mafia, you know what it means?

Socialist and pure Nazi.

I don't understand why they have privilege more than me.

It's not equal protection.

Everybody who come here, I spend time, money, and gas, everything.

I supposed to be have two minute.

But because they spoke from the heaven, no, from the sky, you know what it mean?

You come, everybody for one minute.

This not equal protection.

You totally cut people right hair for two minute.

We come for one particular reason, because we want to explain us.

For one minute, you cannot ever make a piss in toilet.

That's a problem what we have right now.

Stand up, America.

Stop this freaking idiot from heaven.

Our next speaker is Nate.

I was preparing for two minutes, so I'm going to read kind of fast.

Good afternoon.

My name is Nate Perdone, speaking about Seattle's inaugural Indigenous Advisory Council.

I was born in Snoqualmie toward the end of the last millennium.

I give thanks to the people of the moon for allowing my parents to accomplish this.

I grew up on the east side, earned all my university degrees in Washington, never lived outside Washington state, and I've now lived in Seattle for 15 years, currently in district two.

In the past, I've been proud to vote for council members to want, I'm also a member of the Duwamish Solidarity Group, which facilitates real rent Duwamish and international community of 14,000 plus folks who pay rent to the Duwamish people, more than 10,000 of who live in the city of Seattle.

Thank you, Madam President and members of the Seattle City Council for hearing public comments.

Any reasonable person who cares about other people and who believes in justice would not be able to argue against an IAC.

During a committee special meeting on Thursday, we heard about how great a model this is.

I recommend including all time somebody from the city's indigenous community.

Because on Thursday, we bore witness to textbook erasure.

Thank you, Madam President, council members, and thank you to all nine wonderful nominees of Seattle's inaugural IAC.

Next speaker is Magritte Richard.

Yeah, I'll say good day.

Now, my name is Marguerite Richard and I'm from Seattle and I put down indigenous folk because there's something going on with the fact that it was a woman that spoke from the Duwamish tribe and she made a statement that no one from the Duwamish tribe was accepted or asked to be on a certain committee.

And so I'm saying that I'm an indigenous black I'm not on any committee.

I've never been asked to do anything really important for my people, but I do something important for them every day.

Don't you think that's kind of screwed up?

And I'm from here, okay?

And so we're going to get this right.

We're not going to keep on going, you know, like Missy Elliott talking about reverse it, reverse it, reverse it.

No, we're going to do something now to change the order of the day and you're going to give credence to us too and stop always saying all this indigenous other folk and leaving us out.

Yeah.

That concludes the in-person public comment and we will move on to the remote public commenters and speakers will be called in the order of registered.

If you're not registered again, please register online before the public comment period has concluded.

Our first caller is Brian Clark.

Hello, council.

Hello, council.

My name is Brian.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternatives calling today to oppose ending hazard pay for grocery workers.

All of the public comments last week that mentioned hazard pay were opposed to ending it.

Grocery workers who found the time to speak were able to speak clearly to you that the BA-5 variant is raging.

Several people said they've been getting daily, sometimes more than daily exposure notifications from their stores, and that a $4 an hour pay cut would mean that many couldn't even afford to work with inflation at a 40-year high.

COVID might be less lethal, but there are so many chaotic consequences to an exposure or illness, like an inability to afford food, housing, medicine, or childcare, among other things.

It was shameful that all the Democrats tried to end this hazard pay in December when we knew that Omicron variant was on its way.

Don't embarrass yourselves again by betraying the working people of the city in favor of the large grocery store owners.

Vote no on the proposal.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Daniel Kavanaugh, Daniel, I see that you're muted.

If you can press star six and also double check your phone is not muted as well.

I see his tile up there.

Correct, he still is muted.

We can move on to the next caller and get back.

Okay, the next speaker would be Steve Hooper.

Hi, Council members, Council President Juarez, Chair Nelson of the Economic Development Committee and co-sponsors, Peterson and Strauss.

I wanted to speak to you all today and thank you for the support of restaurants.

My name is Steve Cooper.

I'm the president of Eat'n'Stall Restaurants here locally and the Seattle Restaurant Alliance.

Obviously, the pandemic has been incredibly hard on restaurants, as you all know all too well.

and smartly put in place emergency orders, which we are very grateful seem to be getting ready to expire.

However, you're also taking smart moves to permanently make a cap on the delivery fees, as this will help facilitate a just and equitable recovery.

The balance of power between the DoorDash and Uber Eats of the world and the small mom and pop restaurants that they negotiate with are is really an imbalance that you have identified and hopefully are hopefully correcting with your vote today on the Peterson and Strauss bill.

So thank you for your time.

I really appreciate your support and your city's restaurants are here to support you in return.

Next speaker is Emily Blair.

I'm Emily with Socialist Alternatives, and I urge the council to vote no on the legislation to end hazard pay for frontline workers.

As a former frontline worker myself, I'm appalled that self-described progressives would even consider such a thing in the middle of a pandemic that has killed over a million people in this country alone.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Julian Van Vost.

Good afternoon, council.

My name is Jordan Van Vost and I urge council to vote no on ending hazard pay for grocery workers.

Yesterday's COVID data indicate an average of 695 new cases per day in King County.

The pandemic has not gone away.

Seattle is one of the most expensive cities in the US.

Corporations are making record profits while the average laborer struggles with inflation and high rents.

Do we remember them when we sit down to eat?

the people who smile at us at the checkout stand as they risk their health day in day out so that we can put food on our table.

Please express gratitude and support rather than disown them with this slap in the face pay cut.

New union raises will be insignificant by comparison and will not balance this loss of income and don't apply to non-unionized workers.

Please act with compassion and justice and vote no on ending hazard pay.

Thank you.

Next caller is Zachary Kirschbaum.

Hello, I'm Zachary Kirschbaum, 350 Seattle District 6. I'm calling out to devote no unending hazard pay to grocery workers.

I can't believe we have to keep such a careful eye on the council to make sure that they're helping the people they promised to represent.

I can't figure out why you're so desperate to end aid to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

It's no wonder that the Democrats are losing people's votes to candidates on the right, since you make it so clear time and time again how reluctant you are to throw them even a crumb of actual aid.

Can you imagine subsisting off of a $0.15 raise while the city coldly rescinds aid, COVID is a daily threat, and your boss withholds profits?

Who are you working for, if not the people you represent?

Who benefits from this legislation, big business or workers in danger?

Does it reward hard work in public service or exploitation of labor?

No more excuses.

Vote no on it.

Thank you.

Next caller is Joe Segru.

Joe Segru, I see that you're muted still.

What about now?

My name is Joe Segrew and I'm a D4 resident elementary school teacher and member of the Seattle Education Association.

I urge all of the Democrats on city council to vote no today on ending the $4 an hour hazard pay for our city's grocery workers.

Grocery workers themselves have spoken about the devastating impact that COVID has had on workplace function, staffing, and their overall health.

As a public school teacher, I sympathize with all of this.

and think it would be beyond shameful for the Democrats to cut these workers' pay, especially in the context of the variant surge and rising inflation.

It has already been remarkably anti-worker and anti-labor for the Council of Democrats to put hazard pay on the chopping block seven times in the last year.

We also cannot accept the race-to-the-bottom logic put forward by Council Member Mosqueda that if other cities have already cut hazard pay, then Seattle should too.

Instead, we need to build movements to fight for hazard pay everywhere, a strong contract and building a militant labor movement and should expand the Amazon tax to pay for it.

Solidarity with the grocery workers.

Next call is Jessica Scalzo.

Hi, my name is Jessica and I am a renter in District 3. a small business owner of Compassionate Peer Counseling, and a former grocery worker for 13 years at Trader Joe's.

And I am calling, urging the council to vote no on ending the $4 hazard pay for our city's fabulous grocery workers.

Inflation is at a 40 year high.

I don't understand why we'd want to squeeze more money out of grocery workers who are on the front lines, overworked, burnt out, and still barely able to get by, especially when CEO CEOs of grocery workers made millions last year.

Ending hazard pay will not bring grocery prices down.

In addition to this, the BA5 variant is surging, and offices of public servants, like the police station, are still closed due to COVID.

So it just doesn't make any sense that we're cutting people who are on the front lines.

However, other places are still saying, no, this is still a real threat.

Please vote no, thank you.

The next speaker is Fox Matthews, and then we'll circle back to Daniel Kavanaugh.

Fox Matthews.

Hi, my name is Fox Matthews and I'm a Dasher based in the Seattle area.

I am here to urge the committee to reconsider the new price control on app based food delivery commissions.

This type of policy could negatively impact independent workers like me.

I've been relying on the DoorDash app over the last few years to pick up work around my own schedule, to put my newborn child into priority and to pursue my passion in the theater and arts.

Raising fees due to the council's proposed rules won't just hurt dashers like me, but all the small businesses and stores as well.

I understand the good intentions of this regulation, but this new rule could ultimately hurt the very restaurants the council is looking to help and hurt hardworking people like me.

I urge you to amend the legislation so that it will not include hurtful customer fees and bring app-based delivery workers to the table alongside restaurant and small business owners to discuss how we can continue to work together to preserve economic opportunity.

Thank you.

Circling back to Daniel Kavanaugh.

Daniel, you're still muted.

If you can press star six.

All right, we will move forward then.

The next speaker is Ruth Blunderman.

Hi all.

My name is Ruth Blunderman.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

I'm also here to urge the city council to vote no on any hazard pay.

COVID cases have been on the rise again, and there's no excuse to not continue the protections that we've been offering struggling grocery workers.

The reality is that these companies have been bringing in record profits, and their CEOs are taking home astronomical salaries.

Meanwhile, inflation and skyrocketing rent prices are squeezing every last dollar out of working class people.

Workers represented by UFCW will be receiving a small raise with their new contracts, but the numbers just don't compare.

I mean, most of these workers will still be taking a huge pay cut if hazard pay is ended.

And that's not even mentioning frontline workers who are not represented by unions.

Ending hazard pay would be really, really devastating to so many and a total betrayal of the people of Seattle who voted y'all into office.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Anna Powell.

Hi, my name is Anna Powell and I am the government relations manager for DoorDash here in Seattle.

DoorDash knows that price controls lead to higher costs for customers, fewer orders and revenue for local restaurants, and fewer earning opportunities for dashers.

That is why we are opposed to the legislation today that would make them permanent here in Seattle.

This legislation is unnecessary as DoorDash already offers a 15% pricing plan for any small and medium-sized restaurant that wants it, not just in Seattle, but across the country.

Restaurants also have the flexibility to change their plan whenever they want.

Furthermore, restaurants report that DoorDash and other app-based platforms have helped them expand their customer reach and grow their business throughout the pandemic.

75% of restaurants agree that DoorDash has allowed them to reach new customers.

69% of restaurants say that they have acquired new dining customers through DoorDash, and the odds of staying open during COVID-19 are eight times more likely for restaurants on DoorDash.

Next speaker is Barbara Finney.

Hello, Council.

My name is Barbara Finney.

I'm a current delegate to the MLK Labor Council for American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3197. I strongly urge all council members to listen to grocery workers and follow the lead of Council Member Shama Sawant and stand with grocery workers, not the grocery pandemic profiteers.

Vote no on ending hazard pay for Seattle grocery workers.

The declared COVID emergency isn't over.

We're in a surge of the most transmissible variant yet.

Local hospitals are over capacity, people vaccinated or not are getting COVID, a frightening number are getting long COVID.

Ending hazard pay for grocery workers now is anti-worker, cruel, and counterproductive.

Follow the lead of council members to vote no on ending hazard pay for Seattle grocery workers.

They put in long hours, continue to take great risks to provide our communities with food, keep stores open, clean, and safe.

The union grocery store where I shop has only a skeleton crew every day workers say they are out sick because the rest have quit.

And it because.

Next speaker is Joe craft.

We can't hear you, but can you check?

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Great.

Hi, my name is Joelle Craft, and I want to thank the city council member for having the public comment today.

I am a little concerned that this is the seventh time we've had to come in and that the Democrats on election day, when a lot of people have not voted, are deciding to cut hazard pay in the middle of a pandemic when that's the reason we have hazard pay.

I've heard that Democrats have been saying, well, other cities are getting rid of it, so we can too.

And that again is a race to the bottom because basically you're telling all of your workers and all the people that you considered to be essential.

You're telling all of us that you don't care and you actually just consider us to be your little worker bees that will do anything and you don't care if we die.

A friend of mine worked at Trader Joe's.

In the past two months, she has had 35 COVID call-outs in her one store.

She has been out over 20 times this year and all because, and is barely surviving.

You take that $4 away and you're going to destroy more lives.

Act like Democrats, not Republicans, vote no.

Good afternoon, members of the council.

My name is Holly Chisa.

I'm here on behalf of the Northwest Grocery Association, and we want to thank you for raising the issue of providing a sunset date for hazard pay in Seattle.

Our grocery stores have been open to serve communities throughout Seattle, and we are grateful for the work of our employees and our management teams to ensure our stores are safe, clean environment for our communities to shop.

We've turned an important corner in COVID in that vaccines are readily available to any and all.

to our employees, to our managers, and most importantly, to our community who shops within our stores.

That was not available when cat hazard pay was put into place 18 months ago.

As you know, only some grocery stores in Seattle have been mandated to pay hazard pay, while all other businesses in the city have not, and the city of Seattle, all businesses have been open for the better part of a year.

Many of our member stores and their labor union have ratified a new union contract, which we have agreed to, and we would ask you now to move forward and beyond these regulations.

The Northwest Grocery Association urges you to vote yes today to sunset hazard pay.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Isaac Miller.

Hi, my name is Isaac and I'm from Socialist Alternative.

I'm calling in today to ask the city council to vote no on ending hazard pay.

This would be a major pay cut, even for unionized workers.

The latest variant causes a majority of the new cases, like 85% now.

And all the data we're seeing is that vaccination and previous infection offer almost no protection.

So this obviously still constitutes a hazard, requiring hazard pay.

You cannot claim to be representing the people while proposing to cut hazard pay, not once or twice, but seven different times in the last year.

That is ridiculous.

And you must know that's ridiculous.

Especially as we enter a period of record inflation, taking away protections for working people is the last thing that should be on your minds.

Why are you trying to help big corporations save money during these difficult times, when you're not trying to help working families save money?

If you really represented our interests, this would be the time for you to think about increasing hazard pay and expanding it to more workplaces and doing so by taxing corporations that made billions in profits during the pandemic.

Next speaker is Brian Rodriguez.

Hi, my name is Brian Rodriguez and I am a Dasher and constituent based in Seattle.

I'm here to speak against the new price control on app-based food delivery commissions your committee is considering today.

This kind of policy hurts independent workers like me.

Working as a delivery driver with DoorDash over the past year has given me the flexibility to pick up additional work when I can to save up to finish college and have more financial freedom to support myself and my family.

Dashie has not my only job.

In fact, I have a full-time job as a cruise transportation coordinator for the Port of Seattle.

But even just delivering for a few hours each week with apps like DoorDash has gone a long way in reaching all my life goals.

While well-intentioned, the City Council could ultimately hurt the very restaurants that they are looking to help with this bill and hurt hardworking people like me in the process.

I urge you to amend the legislation so that it will not include increasing customer fees and bring me and other app-based delivery workers to the table alongside restaurateurs and small business owners to discuss how we can continue to work together to preserve economic opportunity for independent contractors like me.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Marcos Juanles.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hello, my name is Marcos Juanles.

I am the president and founder of Seattle Latino Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

Today, we are speaking against the cap proportion on mobile apps.

And I have to say that we've been terribly worried because we have not been included in conversations regarding the Latino businesses in Seattle, and we're the only Latino chamber of commerce.

We had already two apologies from the council members, and I appreciate them very much for having called us.

And please include us for these proposals next time.

As business owners, we know the needs of our business more than anyone.

Many of our members have entered a partnership with third-party delivery apps with a clear understanding of the terms, products, and services of working with delivery platforms.

DoorDash, for one, has a flexible and transparent pricing structure, enabling businesses owners to choose delivery commissions like the one that is already being tried to cap.

The next speaker is Stephanie Sanders.

Madam Chair and members, Madam Chair and the members of the City Council.

Hello, my name is Tiffany Sanders.

I'm a representative of your local neighborhood QFC grocery stores.

I truly appreciate you bringing this forward today.

As you know, we recently reached a record-breaking agreement with UFCW, which the union itself called historic.

It's a contract that provides our dedicated associates with industry-leading pay a company-funded pension, gains in safety and training, and no added costs to the industry-leading healthcare benefits for both part-time and full-time associates.

As you also know, the COVID vaccine is available, and we have worked tirelessly and diligently to bring equitable access to the vaccine, both for our associates as well as for every person in the communities where we operate.

We hope you will vote yes to move forward and sunset hazard pay as we usher in this new contract.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Jonathan Bischofsky-Cruz.

Hello.

My name is Jonathan Bischofsky-Cruz.

I'm a grocery worker at Trader Joe's, and I'll be speaking on grocery hazard pay.

By now, I hope you are all aware of the lifelong health effects and trauma that can be so easily affected upon a worker who is unlucky enough to catch COVID.

In June and July, there were 32 confirmed cases of COVID in workers at my store.

We maintain, on average, a crew of just under 110. If we look at cases since the last time city council voted to end hazard pay, that number jumps up to 57 since December.

It's shameful to deny the reality of the pandemic that continues to ravage the working class.

We can't tell communities who are jobs.

Our only choice is to risk our health to diseases that seem statistically unavoidable to the point of emotional numbness every day.

Maintaining hazard pay is the absolute least you have the power to do.

And it's very telling that the only people for ending it calling in are the people at the top of the grocery stores while the bottom of us die.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Anne Whitford.

Hello, my name is Ann Woodford.

I am a current grocery store worker at Trader Joe's.

My Trader Joe's currently has 99 employees.

And those 99 employees, 17 contracted the COVID-19 variant during the month of July.

The rest of us remain going to work, overworked, overstressed every day on a daily basis.

for the Seattle City Council to call a vote to end this hazard pay again for the seventh time while the majority of you are still working remotely is shameful.

If you wanna end hazard pay, get back to the office, show up in person and put yourself at risk with the general public like grocery store workers do every day.

Please, please, please vote no to end the hazard pay Keep it for us.

Keep us working.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker is Trent Wu.

Hello, my name is Trent Wu.

Hello, my name is Trent Wu.

I'm a grocery worker in West Seattle.

USCW 3000 member.

I called in last week in order to ask y'all to get steep hazard pay for grocery workers.

The circumstances have not changed between last week and this week.

Circumstances are still bad for grocery workers.

We still have people that are out sick.

We still have people that are getting exposed to COVID every day.

And we have people getting injured because they are being asked to work even harder than normal because we don't have enough staff.

If you cut hazard pay, you're going to lose grocery workers, and you're not going to be able to keep your stores open in this city, and people are not going to have food.

Please don't cut it for the well-being of the people of Seattle.

Thank you much.

I yield the rest of my time.

Jack Francis is our next caller.

Hi, my name is Jack Francis.

I live in the U District and I'm a Lancer there and I'm calling in to demand the city council not end the hazard pay for grocery store workers.

It's still COVID.

COVID is still happening.

These variants are absolutely hellacious and insane what they're doing to people.

Over a million Americans have died from COVID since it began and over 100,000 children have been orphaned from this doctor's taken disease.

Please at least allow these workers, these essential workers to collect their 400 pennies per hour that they absolutely deserve to have.

These people are essential workers.

We wouldn't have grocery stores without them.

They're burning themselves out.

They're dying.

Their children are being orphaned.

Maybe not here in Seattle, but definitely in other cities and states throughout this country.

We stand in solidarity with the working people and not with corporations.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

No unending hazard pay for grocery workers.

We're still seeing an average of 700 new cases a day, according to the KC Dashboard, which most public health experts say vastly underrepresents the actual infection rate.

The current variants evade vaccine protection.

It is shameful that a council of pro-labor Democrats could take away $4 an hour from underpaid frontline workers who are still losing hours due to COVID exposure.

These workers have helped us put food on our table through this whole pandemic, and it's disgraceful that a progressive city council could even consider stripping these workers' pay down to a poverty wage, especially while seeing high COVID numbers and record inflation.

We should be expanding hazard pay, raising minimum wage, not pushing already vulnerable workers to the breaking point.

Okay, our next speaker is Matthew Henderson.

Matthew, are you there?

Well, I see he's unmuted.

You might want to unmute his telephone if his telephone is muted.

Press star six one more time, please.

Hi, my name is Matthew Henderson.

We ask you, our elected officials, to vote no on ending hazard pay.

I'm a grocery store worker here in Seattle and have been for six years.

And through the entire pandemic, that's still very real.

Because of the nature of our business, it's very dangerous with reduced protections.

We don't make much money.

We are living paycheck to paycheck.

We are lower wage workers who historically haven't been well compensated for the hard physical and mental work.

Because of the pandemic, we're still very understaffed.

With 5,000 groceries employees here in Seattle, and by proxy, 10,000 loved ones, this hazard pay, coupled with the health and physical effects on the pandemic, is just a small lifesaver, but a massive relief for our struggle.

This will cost you on the council nothing, but it will cost us and our families everything.

The only people who want to sunset hard to pay are those who will profit.

We aren't profiting.

We are just trying to survive.

And with that, I yield my time.

The next speaker is Brett James.

This is Brett James speaking on hazard pay.

I was a UFCW member for five years.

The city council's attempts to sneak an end to hazard pay is an utter disgrace.

The work is no less hazardous now than at the beginning of the pandemic.

Workers are still forced to take time off due to exposure.

COVID numbers are soaring even despite less reporting due to home testing.

All this at a time when inflation has risen so high that our $15 minimum wage won back in 2016 should be closer to $19.

So why are city council members attempting to take away income from grocery workers when instead every single one of you should be fighting to raise the minimum wage and make this hazard pay a moot point?

Do better for the working people of Seattle.

Vote no.

Next speaker is Preston Sebu.

Hello, my name is Preston Fahabu.

I'm a resident of District 4 and a rank-and-file member of the Alphabet Workers Union, and I'm here to stand in solidarity with the rank-and-file brothers and sisters of the Martin Luther King County Labor Council in UFCW 3000, and also any worker and any grocery store, including Trader Joe's, who are maybe currently not union but are fighting to join our labor I'm once again asking the City Council Democrats to stand with working people, not the corporations that have made millions or billions of dollars during this pandemic.

Hazard pay means hazard pay, as in there is a risk that is happening to people's lives, to their working conditions, to their living conditions.

Last I checked, COVID is still a thing.

Last I checked, inflation is still a thing.

Last I checked, rent is still going up in this city.

The very least you can do is vote no on ending hazard pay.

Next speaker is Margo Stewart.

Margo Stewart, I see you're still muted.

Press star six, please.

Hi, my name is Margo.

I live on First Hill and I'm calling in from work to demand that the council vote no today on the shameful attempt to cut $4 per hour hazard pay for grocery workers in the middle of an ongoing health and economic crisis.

I think it's striking, but unfortunately not surprising, that the mayor and council Democrats have tried to sneak this blatantly anti-worker attack forward without any announcements.

As many have said, it's the seventh time in the past year that they've attempted to end hazard pay, each time with the COVID pandemic still ongoing.

And grocery workers will still remember how in December, every Democrat on the council shamefully voted to overturn hazard pay at the start of the deadly Omicron surge, at a meeting where council member Sawant, who was the only consistent opposition to ending hazard pay, was out sick.

Right now, in addition to the raging VA5 variant in King County, Illinois and California have just declared a state of emergency around the monkeypox outbreak, whose numbers are growing in Washington as well.

And these are direct and obvious threats to the health and safety of workers.

But so too is the roughly 10% inflation of the cost of food, gas, and other essential needs while workers are already struggling to make ends meet.

And I think the cut hazard pay right now would be a really.

Next speaker is Julia Buck.

Hello, Council.

My name is Julia Buck and I'm a resident of District 6. I'm calling to ask Council to please not end hazard pay for grocery store workers.

COVID is still at a high rate of spread.

Grocery workers are still undergoing greater risks because they need to be in contact with the public.

On top of that, the hazard store pay augments workers earnings so that it's more possible to take a sick day if that's not compensated or if a shift needs to be missed.

And that makes the entire community safer.

So I'm asking the council to please not end hazard pay.

As COVID continues, I'd also like to ask Council to please consider Council Member Morales' amendment to make sure that we cap delivery fees, that workers' earnings are not affected by that.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker is Richie Tai.

Hello, this is Rishi Thai.

I'm a member of Alphabet Workers Union, and I'm calling to urge our Democratic City Council members to vote no on ending hazard pay.

I'm an office worker, and we certainly have less exposure risk than grocery store workers.

I've seen my family members get COVID.

I've seen my immediate coworkers get COVID.

And in my situation, I don't interact with the amounts of people, the front lines that our grocery store workers do.

When we get sick, we can do some of our work remotely.

But we rely on our grocery store workers to make sure we're able to stay fed.

And this is at a time when inflation is at an all-time high.

So I certainly do not think this is the time to be taking away the $4 an hour or that our grocery workers rely on to get by.

Thank you.

Next speaker is John Harshman.

Good afternoon, members of the council.

My name is John Harshman, and I'm a grocery worker in West Seattle and a member of UFC 3000. I'm asking you to vote no on repealing the hazard pay.

As you've had members of the grocery industry call in and say that the readily available vaccines are a reason that you should repeal it.

I think that we can see in the reports of the latest surge of the Omicron variant that it's getting past those vaccines.

It's getting past people who have just had COVID as little as three weeks before.

So that's absolutely no foot to stand on, on when to take, why to take it away.

We're definitely in the middle of a surge right now.

And that's evident by the fact that the majority of the council is still meeting remotely.

It would just be cool for you to pull away at this time.

We're still seeing new cases come daily and people who are from having COVID are having to leave work early because of the fatigue.

Everyone is stretched thin and you're putting the community at risk for food safety issues by pulling this away and leaving.

Next speaker is Carl Dyer.

Hi, my name is Carl.

I'm a former food service worker, and I'm calling on the City Council Democrats to extend the vital hazard pay for grocery workers.

Displaying with those in the Democratic establishment who have tried to justify this measure claim, no UFCW union Kroger contract excuses this pay cut in the midst of the surge of the VA-5 variant.

If anything, hazard pay should be expanded.

Not only would ending it be a blow to grocery workers, but it would be a blow to their children, partners, parents, and all the community members dependent on these laborers' incomes.

Stand with frontline workers, not with grocery corporations making record profits amidst historic inflation.

I know council members somewhat won't know how I'll describe progressive Democrats vote.

Thanks.

Next speaker is Aiden Carroll.

Thank you.

My name is Aiden.

I am a member of STIU 1199 Northwest with DESC, where we are also in the last month seeing a surge in COVID cases.

This is no time to end hazard pay.

This and the safety issues we see in grocery stores and elsewhere are ultimately a result of the lack of worker self-management.

But feeling that the minimum wage should be $30 an hour, And failing that, we cannot go backwards.

With the DoorDash thing, that may also be ultimately stemming from a lack of worker self-management when workers are caught between the restaurant employers and the DoorDash employers, not that the power isn't necessarily equal between them.

I'll just use return from Santa Cruz where things are in some ways thought worse to homeless folks, but they have.

Next speaker is Emily MacArthur.

Hi, my name is Emily.

I'm a renter in district two.

I'm here to call for a no vote on repealing hazard pay.

I'm glad to know I don't have to wonder if council member Sawant will vote no on this, but with the track record of voting to overturn during the last surge, what about the so-called progressive Democrats?

We're supposed to believe these big business sob stories that they're just mom-and-pop stores trying to deliver publicly necessary goods, but the reality is that Kroger's CEO made $18 million last year.

$4 an hour hazard pay is the difference between workers being able to hold on, between stores being staffed and not.

The new UFCW contract does not replace hazard pay, even in its highest raises, and it also doesn't cover ununionized workers.

The basis of hazard pay was that we are in an emergency.

As a housing activist in this city, I've seen the way the Democratic Party is eager to declare a housing emergency, then continue with business as usual with handouts to corporate developers and refusing to fight for rent control.

But the reality is that even as nationally Democrats have stopped funding COVID testing or an urgently necessary round of boosters, we are still in emergency.

Vote no to end hazard pay, stand with grocery workers, not bosses, and build a party that we don't have to beg to stand with us.

Next speaker is Lucas Kruger.

Lucas, I see you're still on mute.

If you press star six.

We'll move on to the next speaker and circle back to Lucas.

Next speaker.

Next speaker is Alyssa.

Oh, excuse me, Lucas.

It wouldn't unmute.

Go ahead, Lucas.

Hello.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay, hello.

My name is Lucas Kruger.

I'm speaking on behalf of CB 120372. I just wanted to ask you not to cancel pandemic because they pay for grocery workers for one, as other people have said, we're already in the middle of a pandemic.

COVID cases are worse now than they were for almost all of 2021. And now there's monkey pox to worry about.

Grocery workers risk life and limb.

A lot of people have gotten very sick.

A lot of people have died.

A lot of people have suffered permanent consequences from COVID.

that they got in the workplace, even the doubly or triply vaccinated.

A lot of grocery workers are also supporting multiple people, including children, elderly, people who are immunocompromised or cannot work, and the terror of getting them sick is something I can only describe as nauseating.

A $4 pay decrease in the face of that is like it's a slap in the face, especially with the lack of rent control or affordable housing.

In 2021, for a full-time worker to afford a two-room apartment in Seattle, they would have needed almost $30 an hour, and rent has increased since then.

So I'm asking you to please leave the hazard pay increase in place and ask the council to consider extending hazard pay to other industries.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker is Alyssa Kaufman.

Here we go.

Hi, my name is Alyssa Kaufman.

I live in District 4, and I'm speaking today to urge City Council members to act with a conscience and vote no on ending the $4 an hour pandemic hazard pay for our city's grocery workers.

Inflation is at a 40-year high, and there is an acute affordable housing crisis throughout this region.

Moreover, the COVID variant that's raging and putting our grocery workers at acute risk is not subsiding.

In these conditions, Even making an argument to enhance the pay is horrendous.

I am baffled and horrified that this is the seventh time in one year that our city council has put ending grocery worker hazard pay on the agenda.

We know that this is morally wrong and logistically unsound.

We cannot afford to treat our grocery workers in this way.

Our constituents know it, and you know it.

Do the right thing, serve your city, and vote no on ending hazard pay for our city's grocery workers.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Madeline Dinks.

Hi, my name is Maddie.

I'm a voter in District 3. I'm calling today to urge the Democrats of the Council to vote no on ending hazard pay for grocery workers.

As long as workers are at risk of COVID, hazard pay should stay in place And it's a betrayal that this council continues to put the interests of corporations over workers.

The BA5 variant is more infectious than previous previous variants and prior immunity and vaccines are not slowing its spread the way it has previous variants.

Your own policy staff have noted that ending housing pay could disproportionately impact marginalized workers.

The union pay raises have been brought up.

As many people have mentioned a lot of grocery workers in the City of Seattle are not unionized.

and even though two would would only see at max a $2 an hour pay raise and at minimum a 15 cent pay raise.

Workers need to be able to afford not just to support themselves when they're out sick, but also to be compensated for the fact that they're overworked and they're overlooked currently by the city of Seattle.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Thelma Jones.

Thelma, see that you're still on mute, if you can press star six.

Or double check that your phone is not muted.

Jody, what number are we on?

We have six speakers left, and we missed a person in the audience that would like a chance to speak.

OK.

Can we come back to Thelma?

Sure.

OK.

The next speaker is Brandon Comstock.

Next speaker is Tammy Hetrick.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you, Council, for the opportunity to speak to you.

My name is Tammy Hetrick.

I'm with Washington Food Industry Association.

I represent independent grocers and convenience stores in Seattle.

We want to thank the council for considering 120372 on hazard pay.

We have been providing safe workplaces since the start of the pandemic.

We continue to do so.

This has impacted the groceries and we have had record losses in Seattle and we have had owners leave Seattle because they couldn't afford to stay in business.

So we ask that you please consider ending hazard pay.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Logan Swan.

Hi, my name is Logan Swan.

I'm a district two renter union iron worker and longshoreman.

And I'm calling today in solidarity with my grocery store siblings and their hazard pay.

COVID isn't over.

Just in the last month, myself and others I work with have gotten COVID, probably from work, since that's all that any of us have time for anymore with rising rents and inflation.

Listen, ending hazard pay isn't a neutral position.

To vote no is to stand with the workers that feed us.

To vote yes is to instead stand with the big business CEOs and their obscene profits.

You can hear that just based on who's calling in.

Grocery store workers are opposing ending it, and the paid-back pieces of the employers are telling you to vote these workers' money into their own pockets.

I want to thank Sean for being the only council member to support workers and oppose any hazard pay, unlike the corporate Democrats who are pushing this anti-worker bill for the seventh time in one year.

Next speaker is Daniel Wing.

Hey, I'm Daniel.

I'm a renter in Seattle, and I'm also an Amazon warehouse worker speaking in solidarity with grocery store workers here.

Yeah, I can second the testimony from other workers who've spoken that COVID really isn't over.

On our Amazon A to Z app, we get a notification almost every day about a known COVID case in our warehouse.

There really is no basis to end this hazard pay for grocery store workers, you know, who've kept our economy and society running through this pandemic.

There's no basis to end their hazard pay other than bending to the interests of the grocery bosses who have continued to make record profits in this period.

And even if COVID were no longer a risk to workers, we're all still feeling the weight of out of control gas and brand prices increasing prices actually at the grocery stores that are making it so that these workers can barely afford to shop at the place they work.

It really doesn't matter what complicated justification you try to come up with for ending this hazard pay, whether it has to do with future raises coming from a union contract or some insane narrative that because we have vaccines now we can go back to normal.

If you vote to end hazard pay, working people will know that the pro-labor Democrats in city council sided with the grocery store association of Northwest and their profits to take away $4 an hour from people

Next speaker is, we're going to circle back to Thelma Jones.

Thelma Jones.

There you go.

Hi, my name is Thelma Jones, a local union member, 3,000 UHW grocery store workers at Metropolitan Market in Seattle.

I urge all the democrats Seattle councilmembers to vote no on hazard pay.

So essential worker please vote no for hazard pay.

Thank you.

Our last public comment speaker in person is Rex

My name is Rex and I'm urging and pleading you guys to not end hazard pay.

You guys have heard all the reasons today as to why we should keep it.

We have not heard one good reason to take it away.

Who are you guys trying to help?

Are you guys trying to help your constituents or big business?

We are facing an economic and health crisis.

We need your help.

I was here last week.

and not many of you guys were, I saw you there and I thank you.

I don't want you guys to postpone this vote again.

I want you to put a rest to this.

I want you guys to vote no on ending hazard pay.

Thank you guys.

That concludes the end of our public comment list.

Madam clerk.

Yes.

So we have one person that came in.

We have concluded all of our public commenters.

Oh, okay.

I thought we had another individual that came into chambers.

We were very swift and efficient and he's already spoken.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I thought he was calling in.

Wasn't looking at the screen.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, we have reached the end of the registered speakers, both remote and in-person.

Public comment is now closed on our agenda.

We will move on to adoption of the International Introduction Referral Calendar.

If there is no objection, the Introduction Referral Calendar will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the IRC is adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the agenda.

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

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the consent calendar.

We will now consider the proposed consent calendar.

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

Not hearing or seeing any, we will move on.

So I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

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 Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

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

Moving on to, I believe we have five matters on our committee reports, beginning with item number one.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda Item 1, Council Bill 120372, relating to employment in Seattle, amending sections 100.025, 100.030, and 5 of Ordinance 126274 to establish a new date for ending hazard pay requirements and automatically repealing the ordinance.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120372. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

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

On February 3rd, 2021, the City of Seattle enacted Ordinance 126274, known as the Hazard Pay for Grocery Employees Ordinance, requiring grocery businesses to provide employees with hazard pay for work performed in Seattle during the COVID-19 emergency.

The hazard pay was intended to compensate grocery workers for the risks of working on the front lines of a global pandemic.

improve their financial ability to access resources to stay safe and healthy.

and encourage them to continue their vital work and support the welfare of the greater community that depends on groceries, groceries, excuse me, employees for safe and reliable access to food.

This legislation would end hazard pay requirements in recognition of the progress made towards supporting the health and safety of workers and the community through high rates of vaccinations and reduced numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Before I move any further, are there any comments from my colleagues?

Council Member Sawant.

And then after Council Member Sawant it will be Council Member Morales, but go ahead Council Member Sawant.

Thank you.

I will be voting no yet again.

on this bill to end hazard pay for our city's grocery workers.

As the VA-5 COVID variant surges, as inflation stretches workers' paychecks to the breaking point, Mayor Harold Big Business and the Democratic Council members are shamefully dedicated to cutting the wages of essential grocery workers by $4 an hour, which is what this bill would do.

Grocery workers and all frontline workers have made incredible sacrifices during the pandemic, and they deserve a raise, not a pay cut.

Today is the seventh time the Democrats have put legislation to end hazard pay on the council's agenda since July 27 last year.

I cannot think of any other issue that has been tried so many times in one year.

Compare this to how in the last 40 years, The Washington State Democrats have not once put ending the statewide ban on rent control up for a vote.

They have controlled the governor's mansion for 30 out of the last 30 years, the Senate for 20 years, the House for 23 years, and have controlled all three of those for 15 of those 30 years.

This is truly revealing about the real priorities of the Democratic Party.

To date, my Socialist Council office is the only one that has consistently opposed ending hazard pay.

pressure from strong public support for hazard pay forced Democrats to delay the vote until December 13 last year, at which point all eight Democrats voted yes to end hazard pay, a bill that was sponsored by Council Member Mosqueda.

I was sick that day and was unable to attend, but I had made my opposition to ending hazard pay during the pandemic perfectly clear.

With the Omicron virus flaring at that time, then-Mayor Jenny Durkan was forced to veto that cruel measure.

Council Members have heard the facts directly from grocery workers during public comment last week, this week, and previously.

As Trent, the West Seattle worker who spoke today and last week, and was a member of UFCW Local 3000 said, we are basically hanging by a thread and if that thread called hazard pay is cut, it is going to be very devastating to the grocery workers in this city.

In contrast, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen took home a cool $18 million last year.

Albertson's president Sharon McCollum was paid $11.7 million.

The companies they head up are major chains.

The many brands owned by Kroger include QFC and Fred Meyer, .

They are hiking food prices for working people while reaping billions in profits.

Even the city Council's own central staff have noted that the bill to end hazard pay will impact black and brown working people.

Ending hazard pay requirements for grocery store employees could have a disproportionate impact on grocery workers who identify as black, indigenous, and people of color.

The risks of working during the pandemic are especially significant for BIPOC workers because they are overrepresented among the retail frontline workforce, more likely to earn lower incomes, and disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Despite positive trends in vaccinations and key indicators of COVID-19 activity in King County, there are disproportionately higher rates of COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among communities of color, with the highest rates in all three categories for Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander residents, and the second highest rates for hospitalizations and deaths for American Indian, Alaska Native residents, end quote.

And in the whereas clauses, this bill itself recognizes that, quote, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that COVID transmission in King County is at a high level, end quote.

So what possible justification could there be for ending hazard pay for grocery workers unless elected officials want to tell the truth and say they're simply increasing the profits of big businesses at the expense of workers?

When she brought forward the ending hazard pay bill for a vote in December, Council Member Mosqueda argued that Seattle should end our hazard pay because other cities had already ended theirs.

We simply cannot accept this race to the bottom argument.

Council members will also no doubt point to the new contract between UFCW Local 3000 and the major grocery bosses.

I have heard several myths to that effect.

I have heard it falsely claimed that Seattle's hazard pay must be repealed before UFCW members can get their negotiated pay raises.

A plain reading of the union contract shows this is utterly untrue.

The new contract states that the 2022 pay increases are, quote, effective on the first day of the contract or the first Sunday after hazard pay ends, whichever is later, but no later than August 28, 2022," end quote. In other words, union workers will get their deserved pay increases on August 28, which is before this bill would even take effect, whether or not Seattle's hazard pay remains. The Democratic establishment will also no doubt argue that UFCW members will get substantial raises in their contract, and that ending hazard pay will not result in lost wages or pose a hardship. Well, you already heard from the workers themselves, but we also should point out that this math doesn't add up. Union represented workers will receive a raise this year of $0.15 an hour for new hires and $2 an hour for most workers with over 3.5 years experience. Workers with no union will not even get those raises. So no matter how you slice it, losing $4 an hour will be a major pay cut for most union members, not to mention those without a union. and not to mention the $4 an hour is hazard pay to help compensate for the additional risks grocery workers face during the pandemic. The raises in the contract barely keep up with inflation. There are certainly no replacement for hazard pay. And let's be clear, ending hazard pay will not lower food prices. These corporate chains have not and will not return the savings, quote unquote, savings to consumers. Kroger and other supermarket corporations are profiting handsomely from inflation which, according to a recent Bloomberg article, quote, remains on a tear, especially when it comes to food costs, which rose 10.5% in June from a year ago, the largest increase since 1981, end quote. The facts are absolutely damning. If Democrats vote to end hazard pay, it's very clear which side they are on. I do still urge council members to vote no on ending hazard pay. But if Democrats end hazard pay now, they will be doing more than terminating a crucial public policy. They will be saying, in the midst of this ongoing health emergency, that the lives and well-being of frontline grocery workers don't matter, whereas profits for the wealthy reign supreme. As worker Brett James said today in public comment, why are city council members fighting to take away hazard pay when instead you should all be fighting to increase the minimum wage and make this hazard pay a moot point? I agree with In fact, the City Council should be making these $4 an hour permanent for grocery workers and in fact all workers in the city deserve at least that much of a pay raise and in fact much more given the skyrocketing cost of living in the city and the historic levels of inflation that we are experiencing nationwide and internationally. in this historic crisis of the global system of capitalism. At the end of the day, what this vote will show, if Democrats vote to end hazard pay, it will once again be a reminder for working people that we cannot rely on this party that primarily represents the interests of big business and the wealthy. We have to organize independently, both through social struggles and through The labor movement by building a militant fighting labor movement as Joseph grew the member of Seattle Education Association said earlier in public. Thank you.

Thank you, Casper someone Casper Morales.

Thank you, Council President.

As was alluded to the central staff memo that we received about this bill did clarify that if the bill passes hazard pay requirements would end 30 days after the mayor signs the legislation.

So likely between August 25 September 4. And that workers under the negotiated collective bargaining agreement will be eligible for additional wages starting August 28. So that would be between $4 and $9 added to their pay over the course of the agreement.

So I am glad to know that represented workers will be getting the raises they deserve, and that the union has been such a strong advocate for making these races permanent which I think is the key impetus behind this legislation and I understand that.

we are once again in a high transmission period for COVID in King County.

The mayor has not ended the civil emergency and grocery workers are still at risk for exposure, especially now that people seem to think they don't have to wear masks anymore.

So for these reasons, I will be voting no on repealing the hazard pay for grocery workers.

And that's all I got.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

All right, is there any other before we move forward on the vote?

All right, not seeing any.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

No.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

No.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Five in favor, two opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

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

Moving on to item number two from the Finance and Housing Committee.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item two into the record?

The report of the Finance and Housing Committee, agenda item two, Council Bill 120366, amending Ordinance 126490, which adopted the 2022 budget, including the 2022 through 2027 Capital Improvement Program.

This bill was held in City Council on July 26, 2022.

Thank you.

This is originally sponsored by Council Member Mosqueda, but I understand today Council Member Lewis will be teeing us up for Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Lewis, you want to go ahead and walk us through this?

Yes, thank you, Council President.

As was indicated at briefing this week, this bill has been held over, so I will move it to put it in front of us today, because I believe we have a sufficient number of votes to pass it today, and I move that Council Bill 120366 be put before the Council.

Second.

And then Council President, I can make further remarks if that'd be appropriate at this time.

Yeah, I think what we'll do, because there's a little confusing here.

You go ahead and do opening remarks on behalf of Council Member Mosqueda.

And then I also understand you will be taking leave for the amendment for Council Member Herbold.

Is that correct?

Yes, Madam President.

So I will move the amendment after making just a few more introductory remarks.

So just to remind the audience, this is the supplemental budget bill to tune up the council's budget in the middle of 2022. As council colleagues will recall, given the upcoming budget uncertainty, there was some degree of adjustment by the incoming Herald Administration to council ads that we put in to the budget in the fall.

This legislation reconciles those budget ads to consolidate going into the fall budget, the fiscal position of the city.

So, We held the bill because it does require a super majority of yes votes to alter a bill that has budget implications.

which is the overview for Council Bill 120366. There is an amendment, which I will now bring that Council Member Herbold is the prime sponsor of, but that I am supportive of, and that is Amendment A, which has been distributed.

Yes.

Just one minute.

So you just did the introduction for the legislation, and thank you.

I need to ask if there are any comments from your colleagues before we move to your amendment.

None.

Okay.

With that, Council Member Lewis, go ahead with your motion to move Amendment A. Thank you, Madam President.

I move Amendment A to Council Bill 120366. Second.

So it's been moved and seconded to amend the bill.

I second it.

I should have done that.

It's been moved and seconded to amend the bill as presented on Amendment A. And Council Member Lewis, at this juncture, on behalf of Council Member Herbold, you will now address the amendment.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

This bill revises a proviso that was part of our initial budget package that placed on the Seattle City Attorney's Office budget, a proviso for pre-filing diversion in the 2022 adopted budget.

In last year's budget, this amounted to about $1.1 million for pre-filing diversion programs.

Council Bill 120366 transfers $200,100 from the city attorney's office to the human services department for pre-filing diversion contracts.

And this amendment was requested by the executive, but was inadvertently left out of the supplemental budget when transmitted.

So this is an effort by Council Member Herbold and Mayor Harrell to make sure that this is included in the package and could, I guess, be characterized in that way as a technical fix, although it does have substantive implications for Council Bill 120366, but it was the will of the City Budget Office and Mayor Harreld that this be incorporated into the bill.

As a policy matter, the Herald Administration anticipates seeing pre-file diversion money being housed in the Human Services Department's budget.

And that'll be part of our conversation this fall.

Central staff emailed this amendment to council members on Friday, July 22nd.

And I don't know if, The Herbold office has received or fielded questions from colleagues about it or not, but they did want to include the date when this amendment was initially circulated.

Thank you.

Colleagues, are there any comments regarding amendment A as council member Lewis has just presented it?

All right.

Not seeing any.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of amendment A.

Council member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The amendment is adopted.

and the amended bill is before the council now.

Are there any comments before we go to the actual vote on the amendment bill?

Not seeing any.

Madam Clerk, do we call the roll now?

Yes.

Will you please call?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Councilor Lewis, is there anything you want to add before we go to a vote?

No, Madam President.

Thank you.

I'm ready to vote.

Okay.

Thank you.

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

I'm sorry, Council President, I missed it.

Was the motion moved to pass as amended?

I missed that.

Yeah, it's okay.

Thank you.

The roll call.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Barras.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes as amended.

The chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Moving into item number three from the Economic Development, Technology, and City Light Committee.

I'm gonna hand it over to Council Member Nelson in a minute, but Madam Clerk, will you please read item number three into the record?

Item three, appointment 2279, Clement Marcantia, as Director of the Office of Economic Development.

The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you.

Council Member Nelson, your chair of the committee, you are recognized to address this appointment.

Thank you very much.

I am extremely pleased to be able to advance the nomination of Markham McIntyre to be Director of the Office of Economic Development.

He'll be the first OED Director with formal economic development policymaking experience, most recently leading economic development, equity partnerships, and regional workforce development as Executive Vice President of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

So OED's mission is to build an inclusive economy where everyone can fully participate.

And they do this through strategies and investments that open doors and remove barriers to wealth building opportunities, especially for communities that have been systematically excluded from such opportunities.

And Interim Director McIntyre has been busy bringing his knowledge to bear on fulfilling that mission.

Since he's been at the helm, OEB has launched the Capital Access Program, which provides low and ultimately forgivable loans to small businesses, launched and expanded the Seattle Restored program that fills empty rest storefronts and gives small businesses and artists a place to do their business.

Just today I spoke at an event announcing that up to 30 small businesses will be eligible for grants of up to $100,000 for tenant improvements.

And then later this year, OED will launch the Small Business Ownership Program, enabling small business owners to actually purchase their space, which is the best way to reduce the displacement of BIPOC-owned businesses and keep that wealth in community.

So he's been focused on attaining our equity, social justice, and anti-displacement policy goals by getting resources directly into the hands of the people that need it most and collaborating with other parts of our city government, particularly the Office of Housing and the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to do that.

So as a small business owner, I've seen Mr. McIntyre in the wild advocating on behalf of small businesses.

And I am pleased and I just can't think of anybody more experienced or knowledgeable to accept this role.

And I urge my colleagues support.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson.

Colleagues, does anyone have any comments before we move forward on the confirmation regarding Mr. McIntyre?

I will be voting no on the appointment of Mark McIntyre to be the Director of the Office of Economic Development.

Mr. McIntyre was with the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce for years in various capacities, including as Interim President and CEO in 2016. 20, an executive vice president last year.

As most people know, the chamber represents the interests of many of the biggest corporations and the wealthiest individuals in this region.

The chamber has a long history of opposing any and every progressive measure that would make the lives of working people better, including paid sick leave, the $15 an hour minimum wage, the Amazon tax, and importantly, ending the statewide rent control ban.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone.

The chamber exists to advocate for the profits and wealth of the richest people, and that is what they do.

Their position on every issue confirms that the interests and greed of the very rich are diametrically opposed to the interests and needs of working people.

The chamber opposes even small progressive measures because they know that if they deliver real material gains to working people, that it eats into corporate profits.

And because when working people fight and win something, it raises their morale to fight for more.

In his capacity as a public spokesperson for the chamber, Mr. McIntyre repeatedly opposed the Amazon tax, the big business payroll tax, expense tax that my office fought for and won as part of the tax Amazon movement.

He sent many emails to the chamber's email list and to council members, urging the big business tax not be passed.

After it was passed, he urged that it be reconsidered.

Then finally, he and the chamber announced their lawsuit against the big business tax.

I'm happy to note that that lawsuit was recently defeated in the courts, but this is pretty blatant, having somebody at the helm of a city department who actually headed up the effort to have a lawsuit against the tax that was passed by our city.

And to be clear, this was not simply occasional emails that were sent by him in the chamber.

It was a serious campaign that big business put real resources into in an attempt to avoid paying even a shred of their fair share of taxes in a city they were making increasingly unaffordable.

Just as an example, I want to put a small extract from a letter that Mr. McIntyre sent to chamber members on April 15, 2020. He said, quote, hi, Seattle metro chamber members.

Today, the Seattle City Council announced its schedule for upcoming hearings on the 1.3 payroll tax proposed by council members Shema Sawant and Tammy Morales.

Please sign this letter calling on this council to reject this tax on jobs and to focus on economic recovery.

Sending your own comments to council.seattle.gov.

sign the change.org petition.

We also encourage you to register for the Downtown Seattle Associations webinar if you are interested in learning more about the proposal.

Taylor Wong, Executive Director of the Ethnic Business Coalition, Jack McCullough, partner at McCullough Hill, Larry P.S., and Tim Sees, partner at CBE Strategic, will explain the proposal and the danger it presents to our local economy, end quote.

And by the way, Taylor Wong, the person, one of the persons he quotes, was also publicly and viciously opposed to the $15 an hour minimum wage, and herself came to city council many times to speak against it.

The appointment of Mr. McIntyre is not a personal question.

It is a question of public policy.

Mr. McIntyre has not said anything lately to indicate that his, I mean, after his appointment, after his nomination for this position was announced, he has not said anything to indicate that his opinions since leaving the chamber have altered in any way, including his aggressive opposition to the Amazon tax, a tax, by the way, whose revenues have finally begun funding desperately needed affordable housing, and a tax that was truly indispensable for preventing the most disastrous austerity against working people and social programs last year.

At our June committee meeting, when I asked him what alternative progressive sources of public revenue he would propose, given that he was deeply opposed to the big business tax, he did not have a response.

I also asked what vision he and the department would bring in light of the looming recession, the already record levels of inflation, and the burden of the pandemic being shouldered by working people and the most struggling small businesses.

As part of his response, he said, quote, in any downturn, there is always opportunity, end quote.

In my view, this is a Freudian statement that was made because the fact that there is an opportunity in a downturn is very much true for big business.

I mean, we just talked about hazard pay.

Look at the profits that have increased for grocery corporations while grocery workers are absolutely struggling to get by, many of them dealing with even homelessness, having to live in their cars.

This is true for basically every corporation you name.

The corporations and its major shareholders and executives and the billionaires, break it in during the pandemic, but working people have had it become much worse off during the pandemic.

So in a downturn, it is certainly true for big business that they have opportunities, but it is certainly not true for working people.

And not true for many of the most precariously positioned small enterprises.

And the fact of the matter is capitalism is a zero-sum game.

So when big business take advantage of, quote unquote, opportunities in a major historic crisis, that means they are making money at the expense of ordinary people suffering more than usual.

I will not vote for a department director who is publicly advocating for the profits of big business at the expense of working people.

The goals of big business and the wealthiest people are completely at odds with the stated objective of the department of helping to build an inclusive economy and removing barriers, as the department themselves say.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Swat.

Is there anyone else that has any comments before I hand it off to Council Member Nelson for closing remarks?

All right.

Councilor Nelson, do you have any closing remarks before we go to the vote?

Councilor Nelson?

Yep, I'm just here.

I would simply add that Interim Director McIntyre is the right person to take OEDs to the next level.

And anybody who wants to know what his vision for OED and the many things that he and his team are working on can refer to the responses that he provided to the questions that were asked.

And that is linked on the agenda.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

And with that, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

No.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

In favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Congratulations, Director McIntyre.

You are now recognized to provide brief remarks to the council now that you have been confirmed and also for the viewing public.

I understand that we will not be able to see you on screen, which is fine.

So go ahead, Mr. McIntyre, Director McIntyre.

Thank you, Council President, and thanks to the council for your affirmation of my service here in this new role as Director of the Office of Economic Development.

I'm really excited about this opportunity.

We have a moment now when there's turning the corner on the pandemic.

There's just tremendous energy in the city wanting to go forward and be that leader in the nation for a more equitable, more inclusive economy.

We've also got an opportunity for Seattle to really retake our position as a regional leader and partner and not do things in silos, but to do things collaboratively.

There's one silver lining that we've learned from this pandemic is that we're stronger together.

And so us playing that role at the regional stage and trying to lift up the entire Puget Sound region is going to be really important.

I'm looking forward to working with each of you on your economic goals, both to help businesses and workers in the city.

And so I look forward to conversing with you and understanding your priorities.

I believe that partnership leads to progress and I'm eager to be your partner in this new role.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

And before we end, I want to thank you because we're going to be meeting again and I want Thank you for the time and the time we're going to have in the future to meet again about how we are going to look at the economic vitality of tribes and leveraging sovereignty for economic development and vitality, not just within city limits, but in the region.

So I want to thank you for those efforts.

That's been a long, as you know, project of mine for decades.

And so I'm looking forward to our next meeting to do some more work on that.

So thank you.

I'm eager for that.

All right.

Okay, moving on to item number four.

This also comes out of Council Member Nelson's committee.

Will the clerk please read item number four into the record?

Agenda item four, Council Bill 120378, relating to the City Light Department, authorizing the general manager and chief executive officer of City Light to execute an operation and maintenance agreement and a telecommunications agreement, both with Public Utilities District Number One of Snohomish County and ratifying confirmed restriction products.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson.

Thank you very much.

This legislation renews a pair of 1991 agreements between City Light and Public Utility District Number One of Snohomish County.

And those agreements are an operations and maintenance agreement and a telecommunications agreement.

And under those agreements, City Light agreed to operate a substation at North Mountain to serve the district's customers in the town of Darrington.

In return, the district agreed to reimburse City Light's cost.

This ordinance will continue those agreements and extend them another 20 years to August, 2042.

All right, thank you.

Are there any comments regarding the legislation we have before us that Council Member Nelson has just teed up?

All right, I do not see any.

Councilor Nelson, can we move to a vote?

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it, and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

So moving into item number five, Council Member Nielsen, I see this is yours as well.

Will the clerk please read item number five into the record?

Agenda item five, Council Bill 120379, relating to regulations of food delivery platforms, establishing requirements for food delivery platforms providing delivery services to restaurants and amending Chapter 7.30 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Thank you.

Council Member Nelson, I know you're chair of the committee, but I understand that Council Members Peterson and Strauss are co-sponsors.

So I'm gonna look to you to see how you wanna handle this.

If you wanna introduce it and then allow your co-sponsors to say a few words before we move into any amendments.

My committee was but the host of this legislation, so I will extend the speaking to the co-sponsors.

All right, Council Member Strauss and Council Member Peterson.

Yeah, Council Member Peterson can go first.

Okay.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Chair Nelson.

Colleagues, this small business legislation, which I'm co-sponsoring with Council Member Strauss, will continue the cap on fees that Seattle Restaurants page of third-party delivery companies.

That 15% cap which has been in place for the past two years has proven to be reasonable as well as vital for supporting Seattle's diverse restaurants that have struggled mightily to survive in our city.

Our legislation adds flexibility by enabling restaurants to pay higher fees in order to receive from the delivery app platforms additional services such as marketing.

Our legislation was recommended unanimously by the Economic Development Committee.

I want to thank Chair Nelson for providing time in her committee for this.

Because Seattle's emergency order for the pandemic could end soon, our diverse local restaurants face a financial cliff unless we take swift action.

So I'm hoping the city council will approve it today and the mayor will sign it soon so that Seattle's diverse local restaurants can thrive in our communities.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you to Councilmember Peterson for a partnership on this.

We know that this law has worked, it's worked for the last number of years, and we know that capping food delivery fees during the pandemic benefited both our smallest businesses and consumers.

This is able to spur our entrepreneurs that are in restaurants to be able to share their gifts further than just their own seating area.

This was good for Seattleites during the pandemic.

It remains a good foundation for long-term recovery.

And this small business legislation means restaurants have more control of their economic survival that supports a vibrant, diverse restaurant scene here in Seattle.

I really like this bill because it's a common sense protection for our restaurateurs and our foodies alike.

I'm joining you in this meeting from my district office in Ballard where we have a vibrant restaurant scene.

We also have a dense area of where people live and then a not so dense area of where people live very nearby.

And I'm constantly seeing the food delivery programs working here.

And this bill makes sure that our small businesses are protected and really sets them up for a long-term recovery.

So just wanted to thank you, all the supporters, Kate Hoffman in my office, and Council Member Nelson for making this a speedy process.

And of course, Council Member Peterson for your partnership.

You can hold up on the thank you's till the end, okay?

We still have something to do.

All right, with that, are there any, do any of my colleagues have any comments or anything else we need to put forward?

Council Member Rallis, I'm looking at you.

Thank you.

Is this the right time to move to amend the bill?

Yes.

I move to amend Council Bill 120379 as presented on Amendment A Version 2, which was recently distributed.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to amend the bill as presented on Amendment A2.

And Council Member, is there a second?

Second, I can.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded so Councilmember Morales at this time, do you want to talk about your amendment.

Sure, thank you.

So I do want to note up front this.

This is version two of the amendment incorporates a small technical change to streamline.

And basically this would prohibit for delivery platforms from reducing compensation of platform workers in order to comply with the ordinance.

Under the existing language in the remedy section of the ordinance food delivery workers would have the right to file a civil action to enforce their requirements.

And I'm bringing this because in early 2020 my office worked with then Council President Gonzalez on the original bill to ensure that there was worker protection included.

And just want to make sure that that is included here as well.

The industry did support a similar fee cap legislation I know in Minneapolis, and that provision did include provision to prevent deductions from workers compensation.

I do want to note that we ran the amendment by the executive's office today.

And we heard back that this was generally consistent with our past practice on other labor laws to prohibit actions by employers for reducing pay.

So I do think it's important that as a city we make a clear statement that platform companies cannot reduce the pay of workers in order to comply with the new ordinance.

And I think this change represents that broad belief that bosses shouldn't steal from their workers.

So I move that we amend and ask for my colleagues' support.

All right.

Colleagues, are there any comments on Amendment A, Version 2?

Okay, not seeing any.

Yes.

Oh, yes, Council President.

I just wanted to clarify for the viewing public what version two is I think we've got version.

We do have.

We do have the amendment online on the agenda.

It's just that I think what's being moved is a version that removes some redundant text from it.

So just to clarify for the record and Council Member Morales, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the version two is looking at specifically 7.30.033, and it's looking at that subsection B and it's removing that, it's streamlining it by removing, unless the food delivery platform can prove that it's decision to take the actions would have happened in the absence of this chapter 7.30 going into effect.

So that last part is removed.

The council members all saw us via email circulated by central staff, but just for the viewing public to put that on the record.

if that's correct council member morales that's right that's the version two yeah that's thanks council member peterson um but the um amendment or the amendment a version two is online though it's the correct one's on is posted yeah okay we're good but thank you customer stress is that a new hand or old hand uh this is a new hand okay i just wanted to take this opportunity to thank council member morales for bringing this amendment forward and

working with everyone to fine-tune it.

That's all.

Okay, thank you.

All right, let's thank everybody and we can move forward.

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment A, Version 2.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Nay.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Six in favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The amendment is adopted and the amended bill is now before the council.

Are there any further comments on the amended bill?

Okay.

All right.

Is there any closing remarks from either of the sponsors before we go to the vote?

Nope.

Okay.

We're good.

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council President, Council Member Nelson is trying to be recognized.

Oh, I didn't see that.

I'm sorry.

She's not on my screen.

Sorry, I was waving my hands here at the thing.

So, the Seattle Restaurant Alliance has 2400 members who are struggling to recover from lost revenue during the pandemic, and the last thing they need on top of escalating inflation is a sudden increase in the fee for the service that's been their lifeline.

These restaurants make up the fabric of our neighborhoods and their customers are my constituents.

They asked for this legislation and I'm happy to support it.

And I thank the co-sponsors Council Member Peterson and Council Member Strauss for bringing this forward.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, I didn't see you.

I see you have a different tile up in here.

Okay, so we've done that.

You've did your closing remarks.

All right, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill as amended?

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Stokes.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes as amended and the chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

So that concludes our committee reports, and I'm gonna move on on the agenda.

Next is items removed from the consent calendar.

There are no items removed from the consent calendar, so we will move on.

Adoption of other resolutions.

There are no other resolutions for induction or adoption today.

Before I adjourn, is there any other business to come before council today?

Madam President?

Yes.

Thank you so much, Council Member Lewis.

I'm here on the council dais.

I do have just a very brief item that I would have mentioned at briefing, but we hadn't nailed this down at the time.

And that is for two additional public hearings we'll be holding on the Metropolitan Park District.

and just wanted to take this opportunity to briefly mention that for the benefit of the public watching the meeting.

This information has also been distributed to council colleagues during our meeting by Jacob Thorpe in my office.

And I will just briefly read these two public in-person hearings.

The first is Monday, August 15th.

from 6 p.m.

or starting at 6 p.m.

at the Rainier Beach Community Center in District Two.

The second is Wednesday, September 7th at 6 p.m.

at the Northgate Community Center in District Five.

These meetings are not gonna have an opportunity for a call-in comment.

They will only be for in-person comment.

I do want to remind everybody that all of our Metropolitan Park District meetings in council chambers do allow comment for dial-in.

But the purpose of these is really to provide an additional opportunity for people in South and North Seattle to provide in-person comment at an evening session.

if that is their preference to express feedback on the metropolitan park district.

So I'll mention these again in briefing next Monday.

And like I stated, these have been distributed to council offices, but I did want to just take this opportunity to let everybody know.

Okay.

Thank you.

Council member Lewis and his former president of the MPD.

I can't thank you enough for doing these community meetings and because of COVID, you know, a lot of projects were just put on hold.

So it's nice that we're coming back and hearing from the community again for our six year cycle plan.

So thank you for that.

Okay.

Anything else?

I'm not seeing any.

Colleagues, this does conclude our items of business for today.

And our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on Tuesday, August 9th.

I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon.

Thank you.

you