Editorial: After the election

By Alan OldStudent
Friday, Nov 6 2015
Editor and Webmaster

Right now, I’m feeling immensely proud of 15 Now Tacoma and what each one of us has done. We 15-Now-Tacoma volunteers can hold our heads high and pump our fists in the air. We’ve been fierce and valiant warriors, and we’ve won a partial victory. We’re feeling positive and energized. Stay tuned! We’re not finished yet! We’re discussing what to do next, and we’ll need everyone’s help for the next round.

We may have lost the election, but we WON the argument. Here’s why:

For months, we made raising the minimum wage the central focus of Tacoma politics. No longer can anybody in Tacoma credibly question the need for raising the minimum wage. That’s a sea change from before. It’s a giant step forward for us and for Tacoma’s working class.

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How to Vote Yes on 1— Outwitting the Nay Sayers

The special interests and the Chamber of Commerce have taken measures that needlessly confuses the voters. It will be easy to vote against Measure 1 and the $15/hour minimum wage by accident. This video explains the pitfalls and how to be a wary and effective voter this November.

Vote YES on Initiative 1!

15 Now Tacoma Endorses Spokane Worker Rights Initiative

A group called Envision Spokane (ES) is sponsoring a ballot initiative that would enact a so-called “Workers’ Bill of Rights.” The Spokane City Council referred ES’s proposal, Initiative 2015-2 to be placed on Spokane’s November ballot after ES had gathered the required number of signatures to qualify it for the ballot.

However, the Mayor and City Council, at the behest of business and special interests, are now trying to scuttle this initiative. These measures include the Mayor filing a lawsuit to try to knock part of it off the ballot. The City Council also placed several “advisory” questions on the ballot, which are actually poison pill questions. You can read about this cynical and manipulative ploy by clicking here.

At our last Action Group meeting (Aug 1, 2015), after discussing this campaign, our 15 Now Tacoma volunteer teammates unanimously endorsed Spokane’s Workers’ Bill of Rights. The Envision Spokane group had already endorsed 15 Now Tacoma and Initiative Measure 1, in a show of solidarity.

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