A rally was held on February 18, 2021 to celebrate the California Labor Commission’s order directing McDonald’s franchises to rehire and compensate employees who went on strike to combat the coronavirus.
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This November, voters in at least three states will decide whether to raise their state-level minimum wage.
If history is any guide, ballot measures in Alaska, Missouri and California could pass and lead to higher pay for workers, said Sebastian Martinez Hickey, state economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. said that it was high.
“Since 2014, 12 states have passed minimum wage increases on the ballot,” Martinez-Hickey told CNBC.
He added that in many states, “conservative legislatures have failed to raise wages, so a statewide vote is the only reasonable path forward.”
Meanwhile, Arizona voters will decide on a ballot measure that would lower the minimum wage for tipped workers.
Here’s what’s at stake in next month’s election for minimum wage workers and the employers who pay them.
Alaska: Wage in seasonal economy is $15
Alaska voters will decide whether to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027, with subsequent adjustments indexed to inflation. Ballot Measure No. 1 The minimum wage is scheduled to increase to $13 in 2025 and $14 in 2026.
The current minimum hourly wage in Alaska is $11.73So for those at the bottom of the income spectrum, the increase will be significant. It will also be far-reaching. If approved, the increase would increase the income of about 30,800 Alaskans, according to EPI. estimate.
If this bill passes, employees may also receive benefits. 40 or 56 hours of paid sick leavedepending on the size of the company you work for.
Fishing in Alaska, USA – King crab fishing boat, Bering Sea.
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“Increasing the minimum wage and requiring paid sick leave will strengthen the workforce by encouraging workers to stay in jobs with safe benefits and decent pay,” said Alaska AFL-CIO President Joel Hall. “It will help both small and medium-sized businesses.”
Hall added that the measure will allow parents to “better afford basic necessities for their families, such as medical care and groceries.”
Kati Capozzi CEO alaska chamber of commercesaid the business community opposes the measure.
“In Alaska’s highly seasonal economy, this would be a devastating blow to small businesses struggling to make ends meet after years of high prices and limited labor,” Capozzi said. Ta.
Missouri: Paid sick leave, phased wage increases
Proposal A If approved, the Missouri bill would increase the minimum wage in stages, increasing from the current minimum wage of $12.30 to $13.75 an hour on January 1, 2025. By 2026, the minimum wage will reach $15. Subsequent increases would be based on inflation.
If the bill passes, all employers would also be required to provide it to their employees. 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
Richard von Grahn, campaign manager for Missouri Healthy Families and Fair Pay, called the ballot measure “very important.”
“Currently, a full-time minimum wage worker in Missouri earns less than $500 a week, and one in three Missouri workers lacks access to paid sick leave.”
“This forces people to choose between their health and their bills, and no one should be forced to make that choice,” he told CNBC.
California: High cost of living, $18/hour
In California, suggestion 32 The minimum wage would rise from $16 to $18. The timeline for this increase varies by employer size, with businesses with 25 or fewer employees required to pay the amount through 2026. If successful, the measure would require large employers to raise wages to $18 in 2025 and $17 for the remainder of 2024.
Such changes are also likely to boost wages for non-minimum wage workers. estimate This was revealed by California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
San Francisco was ranked in the top five happiest places to travel in North America.
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LAO expects companies to pass on the extra labor costs to customers, but expects overall cost increases to be modest, less than half of 1%.
The Golden State has one of the highest costs of living in the United States. For one California adult to cover basic living expenses, $27.32 per hourAccording to analysis By Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Massachusetts and Arizona disagree over tipped wages
Massachusetts and Arizona have ballot measures this fall on minimum wages for tipped workers.
Restaurants and other businesses that tip their employees often pay an hourly wage that is less than the state’s prevailing minimum wage, with the assumption that tips make up the difference. But low-wage workers and labor advocacy groups say the practice is often abused, leaving workers in precarious and worse conditions.
In theory, employers would be legally required to ensure that their employees’ tips are at least the regular minimum wage for the hours worked that week, said Martinez Hickey of the Economic Policy Institute. It is said that
In practice, however, “it is very difficult to enforce this, as workers themselves often need to be aware of the law, calculate the difference between their wages and the legal minimum, and confront their employers.” “It’s difficult,” he said.
Question 5 Massachusetts plans to gradually phase out its tipped minimum wage of $6.75 an hour, eventually bringing it in line with the state’s standard minimum wage by 2029. The state’s current minimum wage is $15 an hour.
In the Grand Canyon State, Proposition 138 This allows companies to pay tipped workers 25% less than the minimum wage if the total amount of wages and tips exceeds the minimum wage by $2 across the board for all hours worked. Currently, tipped workers are paid about 21% less than the current minimum wage of $14.35, as long as other requirements are met.
“This is a backwards move for Arizona,” said Geraldine Miranda, an economic policy analyst at the Arizona Center for Economic Progress. Miranda estimates that if the ballot measure passes, the average tipped worker would lose about $1,400 a year.
Steve Chukuri, president and CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association, helped get the measure on the ballot. He said this will “preserve the restaurant and hospitality industry that is vital to Arizona’s economy.”
“Prop. 138 is our best defense against union activists who have revealed plans to force California-style pay into Arizona employers,” Chukri said.