Regarding Seattle’s coming minimum wage, the haggling and foot dragging have begun [“Mayor-elect seeks wage-issue consensus,” NWFriday, Dec. 20). The issue should be dealt with in two phases:

First, the City Council should immediately and unanimously raise the minimum wage for all workers across the board to $11 per hour, which is approximately what workers were making in 1968. There is no excuse for workers to be earning less than what they were earning 45 years ago. The haggling can then begin on the second phase — at what pace to implement the rise to $15 per hour, whether some businesses should be exempt and whether there should be a lower “training wage” for the first 12 months of someone’s earning life.

 — James Robert Deal, Lynnwood