Higher minimum wage, sick leave & employee rights: Alaska voters consider Ballot Measure 1

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A $15 minimum wage, small business sick leave requirements and ‘protecting workers’ constitutional rights’ are what ballot measure 1 supporters are asking November voters to say ‘yes’ to.

Measure 1 supporters argue that the process needs to be sped up to raise the current $11.73 minimum wage, after voters in 2014 approved adjusting the minimum wage annually for inflation, as a way to grow Alaska’s middle class. Those against ballot measure 1 said they feel pay and benefits should be left between employers and employees, and not be government-regulated.

AK Bark owner Mark Robokoff said he supports measure 1 because he said he believes it will help small business operators. The proposal would raise the state minimum wage incrementally to $15 per hour by 2027. Measure 1 also comes with sick leave provisions.

“You know when you look at a huge segment of the Anchorage population have significantly more money in their pockets, that’s going to make a big difference to a store, small stores like me,” said Robokoff.

Business with fewer than 15 employees would be allowed under measure 1 to accrue as many as 40 hours per year. Business with more than 15 employees would accrue as many as 56 hours of sick leave per year.

“Fair and decent,” said Robokoff, who has three employees. “Earn sick pay like a human, like a normal human being ought to. They’re going to feel better about their job. They’re going to stay longer.”

Patrick FitzGerald, part of a group of supporters behind Measure 1, said COVID proved to employees the value of having jobs with paid sick leave.

“Sick days are dependent on your agreement with your employment, but there is no guarantee that sick days have to be given to employees,” said FitzGerald. “We really don’t think that employees should have to go to work when they’re sick.”

FitzGerald also said initiative supporters considered proposing a $20-an-hour minimum wage at one time.

“We thought $15 an hour for minimum wage would be something that would both increase and help the Alaskan economy and the earners, as well as to have small businesses be able to accommodate that growth,” FitzGerald said.

Anchorage small business owner John Weddleton said he does not support the measure and that businesses should be left alone, leaving potential employees to make their own decisions on where they work and how much they get paid.

“Employees can move from one business to the next,” said Weddleton. “They can increase their pays, increase skills. I mean, that’s a dynamic thing in our labor force. We’ve always seen that, and, you know, meddling in it, particularly detail of that sick leave is surprising, and it will cause problems.”

Weddleton said he doesn’t anticipate voting for the initiative in November and calls the sick pay provision “confusing” for employers.

“Two pages of that statute goes into the details of this, showing how complicated sick leave or paid time off is… so, I think for any business, it creates a lot of uncertainty,” said Weddleton.

Weddleton, who’s also a former Anchorage Assembly member, said if measure 1 passes, he doesn’t see it crippling businesses although he said it will cause owners to shift costs. With his reservations, Weddleton said he expects the measure to pass in November.

“It has great populist appeal,” said Weddleton said.

There’s a part of measure 1 that would prohibit employers from mandating employees attend meetings regarding religious or political matters unrelated to work. The measure’s sponsors said they are unaware of this being an issue in the state and is seen as an added precaution given the partisan nature of politics, said Robokoff.

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