By Yereth Rosen
Alaska Beacon, November 6, 2024. Also Yahoo News, Kodiak Daily Mirror, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
Alaska voters favored a ballot measure backed by labor unions by a margin of 12.46 percentage points with roughly 70% of the ballots counted early Wednesday. ...
Backers, who include labor unions and some business owners, argue that the measure is needed to provide what they characterize as an overdue boost to workers’ wages. They point out that Alaska’s current minimum wage — which is the product of a ballot initiative passed 10 years ago — is the lowest on the U.S. West Coast. They also have argued that the sick-leave protections and protections against forced political or religious communications level the playing field for the businesses that are already being responsible in the way they treat their employees. ...