One Fair Wage plans to push similar legislation in 10 states in 2023, as well as three other ballot initiatives in Arizona, Michigan and Ohio in 2024. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
11/06/2022 07:00 AM EST
Local activists in the liberal bastion of Portland, Maine got a minimum wage referendum onto the city’s midterm election ballot this year. Now, the vote is creating a national flashpoint.
In a city with fewer than 70,000 residents, companies like Uber and DoorDash are donating to the opposition. Hillary Clinton cut a video last week in support.
The reason: Progressive groups are trying to use Portland’s initiative — and a similar one in Washington, D.C. — as national test cases for pushing beyond simply raising the minimum wage. They’re asking voters in both cities to bar employers from paying less than minimum wage to service workers who also earn tips, in what has become the next front in their long-running battle to hike pay floors across the country.
Using the same playbook progressives are also employing on issues from abortion to marijuana this year, the groups are betting that they can get around a stalemate in Congress by going directly to voters at the state and local levels — eventually opening the door for federal legislation.
“The ballot measures are our only pathway to change the national narrative,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of nonprofit One Fair Wage, which advocates for higher wages across the country. “When D.C. does this, it’ll...
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