Skip to main content

Updated: Missouri & Arkansas Voters Approve Minimum Wage Hikes


Yesterday was Election Day across the country as voters in Missouri and Arkansas had their say in regard to two different minimum wage proposals on the ballot. In Missouri, Proposition B sought to raise the hourly minimum wage rate in the state from $7.85/hour up to $12/hour by 2023.  As for Arkansas, voters in the state had their say on Issue 5 which would raise the hourly wage rate from $8.50/hour up to $11/hour by 2021.  For those keeping score at home, these were the only two statewide minimum wage related matters on the ballot.

In Missouri, voters approved Proposition B with approximately 61 percent in favor of the measure.  As a result, the hourly minimum wage rate in the state will increase to $8.60/hour on January 1, 2019 and then increase $.85/hour every year until 2023 when the hourly minimum wage rate will reach $12/hour.

In Arkansas, voters approved Issue 5 with approximately 68 percent in favor of the measure.  As a result, the hourly minimum wage rate in the state will increase to $9.25/hour on January 1, 2019, $10/hour on January 1, 2020, and $11/hour on January 1, 2021.

Attention now turns to whether other states (perhaps especially those in traditionally conservative states) will seek to put similar minimum wage measures on the ballot in 2020.  If Arkansas can pass a minimum wage hike in the face of strong opposition from some Republicans, yesterday’s results are likely to embolden minimum wage advocates elsewhere around the country.  While I think we are still a ways away from a federal hourly minimum wage hike, I would expect more and more states will continue to pursue similar ballot measures (especially in states with Republican controlled legislatures which have been more resistant to approving minimum wage legislation). 


For additional information:  https://www.vox.com/2018/11/6/18064506/missouri-proposition-b-minimum-wage-results

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per
Post a Comment
Read more