New minimum wage and paid sick leave will make Alaska a better place to work and live • Alaska Beacon

I worked an hourly job and ran a restaurant business on an hourly basis for many years. During college and during my time in the Army, including a tour in Vietnam, I worked as a laborer on oil rigs throughout the West. After graduating in 1968, I worked in California for “high” wages—about $3.50 an hour—before the new discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay prompted me to move to Alaska. There I again found work in the North Slope for an even “higher” salary—about $4.50 an hour—until I decided to try my hand at business.

I opened Grizzly Burger on the corner where C Street ended at the two-lane Northern Lights Boulevard. Thus began more than two decades of hands-on involvement in the restaurant business, from personally hiring children and working with them in their first jobs to managing and working with experienced chefs and servers. I have always felt indebted to my employees for the hard work they put in to please customers and make the business successful.

The first Grizzly Burger opened in 1969, and in 1975, when I opened Downtown Deli, the minimum wage was $2.10 an hour. Today it’s only $11.73. Adjusted for inflation, an hourly wage of $2.10 in 1969 would be worth more than $17 in 2024.

Unable to obtain legislative or administrative support for raising the minimum wage, citizens across Alaska successfully rallied the support needed to place an initiative on the ballot to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next three years and introduce paid sick leave. . exit the program.

This is not the first time Alaskans have advocated for higher wage rates. In 2014, the last passed citizen initiative to establish a minimum wage was placed on the ballot due to legislative and gubernatorial inaction. The Alaska public responded overwhelmingly positively (69%). I believe voters will once again overwhelmingly support Ballot Measure 1 based on the economic and social benefits it provides to Alaska’s working families and businesses.

Alaska’s current minimum wage of $11.73 per hour is roughly equal to the median wage rates across all states. Twenty-two states have higher minimum wages, including Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Florida, Oregon and Washington. But then let’s compare wages to the cost of living in all states. Here Alaska has a dubious distinction rating sixth place among peers. If we take a closer look at these statistics, we will find that Alaska ranks first in food and healthcare costs and third in transportation costs.

Thus, it is easy to see that the unfortunate combination of high costs of living and average wages leaves many Alaska families unable to make ends meet. And this economy has only been made worse by the steady rise in inflation over the past many decades. This forces people to leave the state and the job market for better places. An unstable or insufficient workforce is bad for business.

The initiative also establishes paid sick leave for businesses, which makes economic sense and ensures a fair standard of living. Under this initiative, employees have access to paid sick leave at the rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked, with a maximum paid sick leave of 56 hours, which is reduced to 40 hours for employers with fewer than 15 employees. Currently, 18 states have already recognized the benefits of paid sick leave and have passed laws implementing these policies.

It is widely recognized that workers who report to work while sick but cannot afford to lose wages are not only harming their own health, but also putting the well-being of other employees at risk. This became clear to us during the Covid-19 epidemic. Businesses are not properly served when there is an outbreak that infects both their employees and customers. In addition, the use of sick leave should be expanded to give parents the opportunity to care for a sick child rather than sending them to school or daycare, which could put other children as well as teachers at risk.

Amendment 1 will make Alaska a better place to work and live. This will benefit workers and businesses. This will improve Alaska’s economy by attracting and retaining a pool of healthy, fairly paid workers for our businesses.