TACOMA, Wash. — The City of Tacoma has asked that a lawsuit filed in response to missing the deadline to add a “workers’ bill of rights” to the November ballot be thrown out.
In the response filed on Friday, it states that Tacoma, the City Clerk, and City Attorneys broke no laws.
They say that placing the initiative on the November ballot would go against the City Charter and Washington State laws.
The request was in response to a lawsuit filed by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367 (UFCW 367), Tacoma For All, and the Tacoma-Pierce County Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) on August 12.
They allege the city of Tacoma purposefully delayed the vote to add the initiative to the ballot in November.
The proposal was spearheaded by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367 and Tacoma’s DSA chapter.
It would include plans to raise Tacoma’s minimum wage to $20 per hour and increase worker protections.
The soonest the initiative could be added to a ballot would be February.
“This lawsuit is about more than winning a $20 minimum wage and fair scheduling. It’s about protecting the democratic rights of every Tacoma voter. Local leaders cannot be allowed to hide behind technicalities while openly colluding with big business to silence working people. We will fight this in the courts just as we will fight for victory at the ballot box.”
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