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...

By Marta Mieze
Springfield News Leader, Oct 22, 2024

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce is opposed to a statewide proposition on the Nov. 5 ballot that asks voters to raise minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave. ... However, a statewide group of more than 500 businesses is on the other side of the issue. The Missouri Business Coalition expressed its support for Proposition A this week. In a statement, the coalition said increasing wages and enabling workers to earn paid sick leave will ultimately boost spending at local businesses, reduce costly employee turnover...

By Caroline Hogan
KSHB-TV Kansas City, October 22, 2024

In November, Missourian's will vote on Proposition A, which would raise the state's minimum wage, as well as enforce paid sick leave. ...

KSHB has talked to employers that are in favor of Proposition A, like Oddly Correct.

"The people who are here are the ones that are going to make things happen," said Mike Schroeder, owner of Oddly Correct. "So if they're not feeling stable or invested, the business isn't gonna go anywhere." ...

Read more

St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune, October 21, 2024

A coalition of more than 500 Missouri business owners and executives across the state released a statement Oct. 10 supporting Proposition A, which would raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and enable workers to earn paid sick leave. ...

According to the statement from the group Missouri Business for a Healthy Economy: “Workers are also customers. Minimum wage increases go right back into the economy as spending at local businesses. Raising the minimum wage and paid sick days are good for business.”

BUSINESS OWNERS IN...

By Sophia Anderson
Columbia Missourian, Oct 21, 2024. Also KBIA-FM (NPR) Columbia.

Missourians will vote Nov. 5 on a measure to gradually raise the minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave.

If Proposition A is passed, the minimum wage would increase to $13.75 on Jan. 1, and to $15 by Jan. 1, 2026. Starting in 2027, the state would adjust the minimum wage annually based on the Consumer Price Index. This change would impact about 900,000 workers, or about a third of all workers in Missouri, according to the Economic Policy Institute ...

[M]ore than...

Op-Ed by Bill Thompson
Kansas City Star, October 20, 2024. Also Yahoo News.

The Kansas City Star recently reported that more than 450 businesses across Missouri have pledged their support to a measure that would both raise the minimum wage and allow workers to earn paid sick time off. In November, Missouri voters will have the opportunity to vote on the measure, which is Proposition A on the ballot. Proposition A gives Missouri voters the chance to pass a life-changing measure that would help hardworking parents like me put more food on the table and...

By Yereth Rosen
Alaska Beacon, October 18, 2024. Also in Yahoo News, Juneau Empire, Sitka Sentinel, Kodiak Daily Mirror, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Chilkat Valley News (Haines), Petersburg Pilot, Wrangell Sentinel

Alaska voters will weigh in on a ballot measure that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027 and require that workers get paid for up to seven days that they are off sick. ...

[T]here are business owners who support the initiative. Some have banded together in a coalition called Alaska Business for Better Jobs.

Among the members is Derrick...

Eric Lovelace
KOMU-TV (Columbia), October 18, 2024

Proposition A is the sixth ballot issue on the Missouri Secretary of State's website for this year's general election. Missouri's current minimum wage is $12.30 per hour, and if passed, the proposition would raise Missouri's minimum wage by $1.25 each year to $15 an hour by 2026. ...

Yellow Dog Bookshop, a small business in Columbia, told KOMU 8 it will be voting "yes" on Proposition A.

Joe Chevalier is the owner of the bookshop, and he said the current minimum wage doesn't meet the demands of the economic climate...

By Eleanor Nash
Kansas City Star, October 17, 2024

Missouri voters will decide this fall if they want to increase the minimum wage and let workers earn paid sick days. ...

WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS FOR PROPOSITION A?

... Over 500 small business owners from across the state signed a letter of support for Proposition A. ...

Read more

By Marie Moyer
KMIZ-TV (ABC 17), Jefferson City, October 15, 2024

A Missouri policy think tank has released a study calling out what it says are myths about a proposal to increase Missouri's minimum wage and require employers to provide paid leave. ... [The] nonprofit independent research organization, Missouri Budget Project, supports Prop A, releasing multiple studies on the positive effects of sick leave and increasing the minimum wage and even releasing an article earlier this month addressing critics' claims about the ballot measure.

Also pushing for Prop A is the group Business for a...

Missouri, Alaska and Nebraska are voting on ballot measures that could raise wages for nearly a million workers

By Michael Arria
Truthout, October 12, 2024

This election season, there’s understandably been intense focus on ballot questions that will affect reproductive rights, but there’s been less discussion of the fact that multiple states will also be voting on whether to raise their minimum wage and grant workers paid sick time.

Twenty-six states have an initiated constitutional amendment process, which allows citizens to place legislation on the ballot for a vote by gathering a predetermined number of...

By Delonte Harrod
Intersection Magazine, Oct 11, 2024

The fight to provide Maryland citizens with a livable wage continues. On Monday, Oct. 7, members from activist organizations stood alongside Tom Dernoga (District 1), and Krystal Oriadha (District 7)  at The Wayne K. Curry building in Upper Marlboro to publicly advocate for a bill that would index the minimum wage in Prince George’s County. ... 

Last year, The Intersection reported on the Fair Wage Act. In 2023, a small group of business leaders from Virginia, Maryland and DC met with Gov. Wes Moore so that he...

By Clara Bates
Missouri Independent, October 10, 2024. Also in Yahoo News, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Springfield News Leader, St. Louis Business Journal, Spectrum 1 News, Columbia Daily Tribune, The Pitch KC, Warrensburg Star-Journal, Sedalia Democrat, Republic Monitor (Perryville), Phelps County Focus (Rolla), St. Joseph Post, Call Newspapers (St. Louis).

A measure that would guarantee paid sick leave for over 700,000 Missouri workers who currently lack it, as well as gradually raise the minimum wage to $15, will appear on voters’ ballots next month.

The ballot initiative, called Proposition A, has been backed by various...

By La'shawn Donelson
Your Alaska Link, October 7, 2024

Alaskans are gearing up for the general election next month. Along with choosing the next President, and U.S. Representative, there are two ballot measures that Alaskans will have to vote for. One measure would increase the minimum wage and require sick and paid leave for employees. ...

Alaska Business for Better Jobs and small businesses across the state are pushing for workers to get a pay increase. ...

Small businesses in Anchorage, like A.K. Bark tell Your Alaska Link why workers should be paid more than...