Seattle — A ballot initiative to enact a $15 hourly minimum wage for many workers in a working-class Seattle suburb that houses the region’s main international airport was approved on Tuesday, November 5.

The measure will mandate that some 6,300 workers at Sea-Tac International Airport and nearby hotels, car rental agencies and parking lots receive a minimum hourly wage of $15, a rate more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

After a hard-fought battle in the city of SeaTac that highlighted a broader debate over income inequality in America, the measure had led with 54 percent to 46 percent, with 3,283 votes counted in the mail-in ballot.

Washington state already has a higher minimum wage than any other U.S. state, at $9.19 an hour, and the SeaTac wage would be among the nation’s highest, just below a $15.38 rate mandated for city workers and contractors in Sonoma, California.

The measure will apply only to workers in the travel and hospitality industries — from parking lot attendants to hotel maids and airport vendors — and would exempt small firms, airlines and unionized work forces.