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...

By Clara Bates
Missouri Independent, November 5, 2024.  Also Yahoo News, St. Louis Business Journal, KMOX-FM St. Louis, The Pitch KC, Sedalia Democrat, Maryville Forum, Lincoln News Now (Troy, MO)

An effort to hike the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and guarantee paid sick leave won the support of Missouri voters Tuesday night. Proposition A was approved by Missouri voters 58% to 42%. ...

Proposition A was backed by various unions and workers’ advocacy groups, social justice and civil rights organizations, over 500 state business owners and others. ...

At the same time...

By Cameron Montemayor
St. Joseph News Press, Nov 4, 2024. Also Yahoo News.

Among the historic races and ballot measures in the November general election, voters in Missouri will also see a proposal seeking to raise the state’s minimum wage by nearly $3. ...

Given the challenges many businesses still face with hiring and retaining employees since the COVID-19 pandemic, Andi Montee, owner of Mokaska Coffee, has long supported a minimum wage increase for that and a myriad of reasons, including putting more money in employees’ pockets to recirculate in the local economy.

“Making sure...

By Iris Samuels
Anchorage Daily News, November 3, 2024. Also Yahoo News, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Wichita Eagle, Sacramento Bee, Raleigh News and Observer, many more

A ballot measure before Alaska voters seeks to increase the state’s minimum wage, provide guaranteed sick leave to most workers and ban employers from engaging in some activities that can dissuade unionizing ...

The measure is backed by a broad coalition of Alaska labor leaders, chaired by Ed Flanagan, former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Labor under Gov. Tony Knowles. It is also...

Op-Ed By Kumiko Helming
Anchorage Daily News, November 2, 2024

Imagine waking up tomorrow morning sick and knowing that staying home means losing a day’s pay — or worse, risking your job. For many local workers, it is an all-too-common dilemma. Ballot Measure 1 aims to address this by promoting an occupational environment that benefits everyone, from business owners to Alaska families. Paid sick leave isn’t just about staying home when you’re sick; it’s about protecting our health, our workplaces, and our community.

Let’s take a look at the statistics: According to the Centers for...

By Sylvester Brown Jr.
St. Louis American, October 31, 2024

“I built my businesses on a belief in the American Dream, and that includes paying people fairly so they can make a living.” Joe Edwards, the owner of Blueberry Hill restaurant and music club, the Moonrise Hotel, The Pageant and other University City businesses is one of the 500 businesses in the Missouri Business for a Healthy Economy coalition urging voters to vote “yes” on Proposition A. ...

The business coalition says raising the minimum wage and enabling workers to earn paid sick time will...

By Chrystal Blair
Public News Service, October 31, 2024. Also MSN, KRCU (Cape Girardeau, MO), KXCV-FM (Maryville, MO), KMA-FM (Shenendoah, IA), more.

More than 500 Missouri businesses are rallying for Proposition A, pushing for a $15 per hour minimum wage and paid sick leave by 2026.

Backed by the group Missouri Business for a Healthy Economy, Proposition A plans to raise the minimum wage to $13.75 an hour next year and $15 by 2026, with additional annual cost-of-living adjustments. Tipped workers must earn at least half the minimum rate, plus tips.

Andi Montee...

By Brian Hauswirth
Eagle 93.9, Columbia, October 29, 2024

Some mid-Missouri restaurant leaders have differing views about a November ballot measure to increase the state’s minimum wage to $13.75 an hour in January and raise it to $15 an hour in 2026. ...

While the Missouri Restaurant Association (MRA) opposes Proposition A, the owner of Columbia’s Pasta La Fata supports the measure. The MRA says the measure will make eating out and buying groceries more expensive. But Pasta La Fata owner Michelle La Fata sees it differently, predicting it will help working people and businesses...

By Hannah Falcon
KMOV-TV (First Alert 4) Jefferson City, Oct 28, 2024. Also KY3-TV (Springfield), KFVS-TV (Cape Girardeau), KCTV 5 (Kansas City), WGEM-TV (Quincy, IL), KAIT-TV (Jonesboro, AR).

There is only one week left for Missourians to vote on whether or not to increase the minimum wage and require paid sick leave.

If you walk into Pasta La Fata in Columbia, you’d hear Italian music over the speakers, smell the sauce cooking, and see a young worker making fresh noodles. This brick-and-mortar restaurant is the dream come true of owner Michelle La Fata. Her team...

Op-Ed By Erik Milan
Springfield News-Leader, October 27, 2024. Also in the Joplin Globe.

As a local business owner, I’m invested in my business and our community. I’m invested in my employees and our customers.

I support Proposition A because it will help us thrive together. It would help people make a living by raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2026. It would ensure that working people can earn some paid sick time and aren’t penalized for being sick.

If we didn’t have happy employees at our music store, we wouldn’t have happy customers...

Op-Ed By Joseph Chevalier
Columbia Daily Tribune, October 26, 2024

My favorite coffee mug is a gift from my wife, Kelsey. It has an image of a typewriter and the words “write your own story.”

We wrote our own story when we opened Yellow Dog Bookshop in 2013. From the beginning, we wanted our shop to be a welcoming place that could brighten people’s lives and encourage them to write their own story.

We all have a great opportunity now to help Missourians write their own stories by voting Yes on Proposition A.

By raising...

By Kyla Asbury
St. Louis Record, Oct 25, 2024

As early voting kicks off in Missouri, a broad coalition of business owners is standing firmly behind a ballot initiative that aims to raise the minimum wage and establish paid sick leave for workers.

The business owners argue that these changes will not only benefit employees but also enhance local economies by reducing turnover, increasing productivity and fostering stronger customer service.

In Missouri, more than 500 businesses have joined the Missouri Business for a Healthy Economy coalition, backing Proposition A. 

The initiative seeks to raise the...

By Kelly Dereuck
Missouri Business Alert, Oct 25, 2024

As a small business owner, Joe Chevalier believes in passing along the profits he earns to his staff in the form of higher wages. Employees at his store, Yellow Dog Bookshop in downtown Columbia, make more than the current state minimum wage of $12.30 an hour, and Chevalier feels that has helped with employee retention.

“It's good to have a staff that's going to stay with you, and if they're paid more, then they're more likely to stay there,” Chevalier said. “You're not going to have...

By Aimee Picchi
CBS News MoneyWatch, October 24,2024

Half of the eight battleground states in this year's U.S. presidential election use the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, a rate that hasn't changed since 2009 despite a 47% surge in the cost of living since then.  ...

"It's ridiculous that Pennsylvania has a lower minimum wage than its neighbors as well as states like Arkansas, Florida and Nebraska, where voters had a chance to pass raises through ballot initiatives," Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a group that advocates for higher...

By Ava White
Alaska Public Media, October 24, 2024. Also KTOO (Juneau)

David Ottoson has owned Rainbow Foods, a natural grocery store in Juneau for 44 years. Most of his 30 employees already earn more than $15 an hour, but a handful of highschoolers make $14. All of them are eligible to earn paid time off. 

He said his wages are competitive with other grocery stores, and thinks it’s part of the reason he’s able to retain employees. ...

Ottoson said he supports the measure because Alaskans shouldn’t have to choose between being sick and...