Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, and Carey Fristoe, owner of Black Spruce Brewery in Fairbanks, carry signed petition booklets for Ballot Measure 1 on Jan. 9, 2024, in Anchorage. They were among the leaders of the initiative campaign to increase the minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
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.
Voters weighed in on Ballot Measure 1, which would provide three new protections for workers: an increase in the minimum wage, a mandate for paid sick leave and protection against employer-required attendance at political or religious meetings or events unrelated to job duties.
If approved by voters, the measure would phase in the minimum wage increase from the current rate of $11.73 an hour to $15 an hour in mid-2027. It would require employers to grant an hour of sick paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with a cap of 40 hours for small companies and 56 for larger companies. And it would forbid employers from requiring workers to attend political or religious meetings unrelated to their job duties.