This morning the state Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that SeaTac’s Proposition 1 applies to Sea-Tac airport.

Prop. 1 was approved by voters in SeaTac in 2013. It established a $15 minimum wage and paid sick leave benefits for certain hospitality, transportation, and airport workers. It also imposed restrictions on employers’ labor practices. (Here is our report on the measure.)

Filo Foods, BF Foods, Alaska Airlines, and the Washington Restaurant Association sued. The trial court held that Prop. 1 could not be enforced at the airport under state law and that federal labor law preempted part of the measure. The Supreme Court reversed those rulings and upheld Prop. 1 “in its entirety.”

Specifically, the majority finds that “Proposition 1 can be applied at the airport because there is no indication that it will interfere with airport operations.” The question was whether Proposition 1 conflicts with RCW 14.08.330. The majority considers the language in RCW 14.08.330 to be “ambiguous.”

Although the language of RCW 14.08.330 plainly denies the city of SeaTac some authority, the overall statutory scheme and the purposes underlying the Revised Airports Act suggest that RCW 14.08.330 denies the city of SeaTac authority over airport operations and the subject of aeronautics, as opposed to “any matters occurring at [the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport].”. . .

These aspects of the statutory scheme lead us to conclude that the legislature intended to vest authority for the operation of the airport exclusively with the Port of Seattle, but not to prohibit a local municipality like the city of SeaTac from regulating for the general welfare in a manner unrelated to airport operations.

The minority, on the other hand, argues that Prop. 1 does conflict with RCW 14.08.330: “the majority’s result offends the statute’s plain language . . . .”

KPLU notes that “about 4,700 workers ranging from restaurant employees to baggage handlers should now be paid $15.24 an hour.”