Residents rejected raising Olympia’s minimum wage. Now the council has a plan
Olympia resident Denise Daliege-Pierce told the City Council on Tuesday that local workers are having to make difficult life decisions on a daily basis because they don’t make enough money
She said she has had to choose going to work to bring in money over visiting her sick husband in the hospital.
Daliege-Pierce said she supports the council’s efforts to address workers’ affordability and protections, after a citizen’s initiative to raise Olympia’s minimum wage failed on the ballot last fall. Several people spoke during public comment at the council’s July 14 meeting in support of the work.
“Workers’ rights are human rights that are all too often ignored,” Daliege-Pierce said.
The City Council received a briefing from Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray on a timeline for researching worker protections and affordability. The council unanimously agreed to move forward with research and a study session in September to review findings.
According to previous reporting from The Olympian, the city’s Finance Committee began discussing how to address minimum wage, predictive scheduling and workplace safety in 2024. Later that year, the City Council directed staff to conduct research on the issue in 2025.
That work was then halted when a citizen-led initiative to adopt worker protections and a $20 minimum wage gained enough signatures to be placed on the Nov. 4, 2025 ballot, according to previous reporting from The Olympian. The initiative was presented to the City Council on July 22, 2025, and the council voted down outright adopting worker protections and a $20 minimum wage, 4-3. Instead, it voted unanimously to place the initiative on the ballot and leave it up to voters. The measure failed. Only 44 percent of voters supported it.
Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater currently follow the state minimum wage of $17.13 an hour. For comparison, the city of Tacoma does as well, but its leaders reignited discussions on July 14 of raising the minimum wage to $20. The minimum wage in Seattle is $21.30, according to the city’s website.
The plan adopted by the council on Tuesday will take place in three phases. Staff would take from July to September to conduct research and data collection, stakeholder sessions and council study sessions. Those findings would be reviewed, and the project scope would be refined this fall.
The second phase, from October through December, would involve more research and stakeholder listening sessions. The final phase would be from January to March 2027, when the council could potentially make a decision.
Ray told The Olympian on July 15 that the research plan hasn’t been fully outlined. She said it’s too early in the process for her to know yet what will be included in that work, and that they will learn more if the City Council wants to include a minimum wage discussion and potential dollar amount after the study session in September.
Olympia resident Shiva Diamond said during the meeting he’s the chief specialist at the Haggen grocery store, as well as the shop steward for the store for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367 labor union. He said predictable scheduling would make it easier for workers to plan their lives and allow for better work-life balance.
Diamond said requiring companies to schedule shifts out two weeks in advance instead of one would help alleviate stress and anxiety for local workers.
He said according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator, the gap between the state minimum wage and a living wage for the city of Olympia for an adult with no kids is currently estimated to be about $9 an hour. According to the calculator, a living wage would be $26.12, compared to the state minimum of $17.13.
“Every worker employed full time deserves to earn enough to afford to live without assistance, whether by the state or federal government, family or friends, or taking on a personal debt,” Diamond said. “A rising tide lifts all boats and by raising the floor, experienced workers’ wages would likely rise as well.”
UFCW Local 367 board member Chris Fergus said during the meeting that they have served the community for about 10 years as a cashier at Safeway and Fred Meyer. They said they like to interview people who come through their checkout line, and they have learned that a lot of people in Olympia are struggling, not just grocery workers.
They said personally, it has been difficult to secure enough work hours to be able to pay bills and qualify for medical insurance. Fergus said as they age and need more medical attention, they are concerned about not being able to afford to see the doctor if they need to.
“It’s very stressful, and that really weighs on the spirit,” they said.
Rochelle Martin, president of the Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council, said during the meeting that she has concerns about the council’s continuing discussion on workers’ affordability and protections.
Martin said she feels as though the City Council will not engage with the community in an actionable way to create a policy or model that works for everyone. She said she has concerns that the work isn’t tied to a specific office within the city, and that it ultimately will come down to the council to do the work and make decisions. She said the work should be tied to the city’s Economic Development Department to figure out how to pay for things.
“We need more engagement, not just with the Chamber of Commerce, not just with the Economic Development Council,” Martin said.
Ray said the proposal for the council tries to strike a balance between two things: the urgency to start this work now and to get to some conclusion in a relatively short time, and to involve a variety of community member perspectives and lived experiences in the conversation. She said she will be the point person and bridge of contact between the city and community to ensure folks’ concerns are being heard.
Ray said a lot of this work will happen in the listening sessions planned for this fall. She said she hears the concerns from residents that everyday people won’t be directly involved in crafting the policy, but she noted that working specifically with workers, labor groups and nonprofit organization will make the process going much quicker.
She said it also “considers the reality of our capacity to do the work when balanced with other major priorities and initiatives during this time period.”
Council member Robert Vanderpool said it would be critical to include working class people, unions and individuals experiencing poverty in the conversation. He said there have been more than 100 people who have come to speak to the council in the last few years about the issue.
Vanderpool said he thinks the council has to think about where the buck stops, and how much responsibility they are taking on.
“Traditionally, local governments don’t do this work,” he said. “Usually it’s states and the federal government, but because of that downward pressure and the fact that people trust us as a local government, we may have to take on more responsibility along these lines.”
Vanderpool supported creating a full-time position within the city to focus on creating labor and working class affordability policy. He said it might not be a traditional thing for a city to do, but that Olympia is not a traditional city.
“We have a climate plan, we have climate staff, we have a housing plan, we have housing staff, and we have equity planning and equity staff,” he said. “It is important that we meet this need in the community.”
Council member Kelly Green suggested incentivizing local businesses to allow their employees to attend listening sessions and learn more about the potential worker protections by covering wages with Olympia Strong economic development funds.
Ray said she will be taking the council’s suggestions and comments into consideration, and will be conducting further research that will then be presented in September. She said the city may hire a consultant later this fall to help advance the work.
According to meeting documents, there is no predetermined estimate or funding specifically allocated to this effort.
“Research and stakeholder engagement in phase one is estimated by staff to be approximately $20,000, which will need to be assumed within the city manager’s office professional services budget,” according to meeting documents. “Phase two funding and resources needs will be determined after further refinement of the research and engagement scope with the city council.”
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