The lowest-paid hourly workers in four states — Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington, who total about 21.6 million — have won a gradual boost in the minimum wage to at least $12 an hour by 2020. The pay rate will then be adjusted annually based on the state’s cost of living or the rate of inflation. Voters in South Dakota vetoed a referendum that would have lowered the minimum wage for non-tipped workers under 18 from $8.55 to $7.50.
Low-wage workers in Arizona will see their wages rise from $8.05 an hour to $10 in 2017. Those in Colorado, who presently make $8.31, will see a raise to $9.39 in 2017 and an increase of 90 cents a year thereafter. In Maine, the $7.50 minimum will rise to $9 next year, followed by $1 a year thereafter.
Washington voters approved the largest increase. The state’s current $9.47 will rise to $13.50 by 2020, with a jump to $11 next year. The initiative also approved paid sick leave for more than 1 million of the lowest-wage workers.
Meanwhile, workers in 21 states are still paid the $7.50-an-hour federal minimum wage, outrageously below the poverty rate.
Virginians voted down an initiative that would have made the state’s long-standing right-to-work (for less) status permanent in the state constitution.
Seattle voters approved health and safety rules for women hotel workers, mostly Latina and African-American. Hotels must now provide housekeepers with panic buttons, track guests accused of harassment, limit housekeeper workloads, help workers pay for health care and retain workers during ownership transfers.
This edited statement was first published May 18, 2017, on workers.org. May 19 is also…
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