Alaska voters favor minimum wage hike, sick leave mandate, with most votes counted

Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, and Carey Fristoe, owner of Black Spruce Brewery in Fairbanks, carry signed petition booklets for Ballot Measure 1 on Jan. 9, 2024, in Anchorage. They were among the leaders of the initiative campaign to increase the minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

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.

Voters weighed in on Ballot Measure 1, which would provide three new protections for workers: an increase in the minimum wage, a mandate for paid sick leave and protection against employer-required attendance at political or religious meetings or events unrelated to job duties.

If approved by voters, the measure would phase in the minimum wage increase from the current rate of $11.73 an hour to $15 an hour in mid-2027. It would require employers to grant an hour of sick paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with a cap of 40 hours for small companies and 56 for larger companies. And it would forbid employers from requiring workers to attend political or religious meetings unrelated to their job duties.

The measure was put on the ballot through a citizen petition.

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.

But several prominent Alaska business groups oppose the measure, saying it will drive up costs and harm smaller businesses that may be operating on thin margins. Those groups that have banded in opposition include the Alaska Chamber; the Alaska Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailers Association; the Alaska Travel Industry Association; and the Alaska Support Industry Alliance.

At the end of 2023, 15 states and the District of Columbia had mandates for paid sick leave. Depending on the outcome of this year’s election, there may be more states added to the list.

Voters in Nebraska and Missouri also weighed in on ballot measures that would require paid sick leave. The Missouri measure, like Alaska’s, was coupled with a minimum wage increase. And as with the Alaska measure, the Missouri measure proposed that employees accrue an hour a sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

The Nebraska measure appeared to be passing easily, according to early results. The Missouri measure was similar to Alaska’s; it couples a requirement for paid sick leave to be accrued by workers over time with an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026.

Additionally, there are proposed minimum wage hikes on the ballots in Massachusetts and California.