A group backed by the dark-money Sixteen Thirty Fund turned in about 41,000 signatures to the Alaska Division of Elections, which means the group likely has the required amount to advance a ballot question to voters: Shall Alaska’s minimum wage be set at $15 an hour?
Alaska’s Minimum Labor Standards Initiative, as it’s called, would increase the Alaska minimum wage to $13 an hour in 2024, and to $14 an hour in 2026, and then to $15 an hour in 2027. After that it would be adjusted for inflation. The initiative would allow employees the ability to accrue up to 56 hours of paid sick leave for year if their employers have 15 employees or more, and up to 40 hours of paid sick leave if their employers have 15 employers or less. The initiative also prohibits employers from compelling employees to attend meetings regarding religious or political matters unrelated to their work.
Primary sponsors include Rep. Genevieve Mina, Ed Flanagan, and Carey Fristoe.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund has meddled in Alaska politics for years, including opposing the constitutional convention and supporting Forrest Dunbar for mayor of Anchorage. It’s also opposed the Pebble Project. The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a Democrat “dark money” group that bankrolls left-of-center candidates and organizations around the country, and is managed by Arabella Advisors, a company with ties to the Democratic Party.
Trying to make us go broke. These are the same people who never worked for 11.00 or 15.00. They always had enough money to buy all their junk.
By increasing the minimum wage, It just leads to layoffs. If employers are forced to increase wages, they just get rid of one or two people so they can afford the forced wage increase of the remaining employees. 1 of 4 LOSE THEIR JOBS. thanks Democrats- another crap policy. Crush small business. Democrats HATE AMERICANS.
Yep. From what I been learning from others Employers across the US are cutting out the employees not good workers. While they increase the work load on their strongest employees with better work ethic and better job skills.
Political meetings meaning union union meetings? It is a shame that employers can force unskilled part time employees to work at low wages. How is it that they can be forced into accepting work for unacceptable conditions and wages, thought it was still voluntary in our country. How about our major trade partners who we are forced to complete against? Does American support slavery outside of our borders by importing most of our products from China for example?
America is the largest human illegal trafficking hub in the world. We don’t have to be China. We are already controlled by human appetites like porn, sex, greed and power.
Getting like California business will be running out of the state and unemployment will be rampant like Wal-Mart and the cashier replaced by machines.
Go for it. Put a bunch of people out of work.
Just make sure the “donation” check from the Japanese company who makes the replacement robots cashes first.
Talk to any far left Democrat and they believe raising minimum wage will pull people out of poverty. They have no idea how business and economics work. This hurts those trying to join the workforce for the first time.
Nothing like the smell of outside leftist money attempting to colonize AK. Stinks every time.
Remember this same group was strongly against the Con- Con ! I smell Democrat power brokers who know that the Democrat controlled Alaska Bar Association selects every Judge in this State.
Well, considering they are using all mail-in ballots, the bill will probably pass by a bazillion to one!
They have been all over the malls and grocery stores collecting signatures. When I refused to go along all I got was the sad puppy look
They have no real clue about basic economics. The cost is always passed on to the consumer, or the business becomes more automated, or the consumer just quits buying. What they really want is a universal income handed out by the government. In other words, they want communism.
Yep, what a wonderful idea! Increase the minimum wage, because prices aren’t high enough already. Why can’t we ban outside donors, who typically work against Alaska’s best interest?
BM 2 was suppose to ban them, or at least minimize their ability to work without disclosure.
Oh… wait. It did not apply to ballot measures. Whoopsie (on purpose)
For supporters of this bill, look to California. They just raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour. The first thing Pizza Hut did was layoff 1200 employees. And just three days ago, a California restaurant announced it was going 100% automated, no workers needed. that’s what happens when you increase the minimum wage, you put workers out of work. If we do it in Alaska, the result will be the same.
Mail in sysrems are easily rigged. Why do we want this?
Then, next year they will complain that the cost of living is going up faster than wages, and insist the new minimum should be $19/hr or $30/hr, or whatever.
Can anyone name a single product or service that will not go up in cost because minimum wage went up?
Anyone?
Prostitution
No, I am going to say you are wrong on that front as well.
After all, the prostitutes have to eat, pay rent, etc… all of which will go up as a result of a minimum wage hike. Their increased living costs will most certainly be passed along to the consumer.
Unemployment payouts, Social Security benefits, and our PFD, come to mind.
Bing, Bing, Bing!!! Do we have a winner?
Maybe. Not a bad response.
The PFD is not, at least in my mind, a product or service.
However, unemployment benefits and social security are a good guess. But… both are tied to the cost of living. SS goes up when the Consumer Price Index goes up. And, if the cost of other goods and services go up, so will the CPI.
Unemployment payments… now… that is a good one, but once again, that is based on 1. Cost of living, and more importantly, 2. your income at the time you were laid off. If your income is higher, your payment will be higher. (Well, until you hit the maximum.) Then again, the maximum benefit goes up regularly as well.
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Made me think there Joel, good one.
But, I am going to disagree. Not a winner.
This initiative, as it stands is illegal.
Alaska Constitution: Initiatives must conform to the single-subject rule in Article II, section 13, Alaska Constitution.
This is three subjects in one initiative:
1. Minimum wage;
2. Accrued hours of paid sick leave for a year.
3. Prohibits employers from compelling employees to attend meeting regarding religious or political matter unrelated to their work.
This is the same group behind the illegal, unconstitutional, RCV initiative in 2020:
1. Ranked Choice Voting;
2. Jungle Primaries;
3. Eliminating dark money;
Our corrupt Alaska Supreme Court allowed this initiative to move forward by stating the three subjects were related, in violation of our state constitution.
This is why by Alaska Constitution, Grand Juries have investigative powers, and are obligated to investigate corrupt Government officials.
AKWildRose, it is up to the Lt Governor to approve ballot issues. The previous Lt Governor, Meyers, failed in my belief to toss out the RCV, jungle primary ballot issue because it also was not a single subject. I guess the decision rests on the definition of “single subject”.
This is just ripe with fraud. Iit will adjust for inflation, but what if there is a recession, does it adjust for that? Of course not! How about a depression? Nope! So what is so wrong with allowing the market to speak for itself and wages be determined by it? Then the rediculous lefties couldn’t control the masses. What a crock! If we, as Alaskans, let this get voted in, we are more stupid than I thought. Kind of like, oh we can get rid of dark money and here it comes Ranked Choice Voting, which we are trying to get rid of after the fact. Keep your eyes open, there’s more.
If you are running a business and the majority of your employees are on Medicaid for healthcare perhaps you should take a close look at your business plan/structure. These businesses are subsidized by the government healthcare while the owners typically pay themselves exorbitantly. Same owners complain about “moochers”. Perhaps businesses like this need to go away.
Sounds pretty socialist to me.
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News flash…
If you think you are underpaid, do something about it. Go get a job where you are paid what you think you are worth.
If enough employees do so, the owner of the business either goes out of business, or raises wages.
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When this “raise the minimum wage” idiocy was last brought up at a national level, I heard way too many people complain about how CEOs were being paid XYZ times what the average worker was getting paid, and it is a bogus meaningless argument.
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The only person who holds responsibility to ensure you make a living wage is you. No one else.
Not getting paid enough? Get a job that pays better. If your supermarket is paying less to starting employees than Costco is, get a job at Costco.
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What another human is being paid is meaningless. End of story.
You hold 100% of the responsibility to ensure your knowledge, skills, and experience garner you the highest possible wages. Instead of petitioning the government to take money away from those that earned it, perhaps you should study what the business owners and CEOs have done to earn their pay, and emulate it. That is how you win. Anything else just makes you a slave to the government.
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