Coalition Steps Up Campaign to Place Minimum Wage on 2022 Election Ballot
A coalition including labor unions and civil rights groups launched a website and social media pages in its drive to get a measure to raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15 an hour on the ballot next year.
Raise the Wage Nebraska says it wants to highlight the stories of the 195,000 Nebraska residents who’d see higher pay. The coalition needs to collect 87,000 signatures on petitions by July 2022 to get its proposal on the ballot in November 2022.
The measure would increase the minimum wage by $1.50 annually until it reached $15 in 2026. After that, there’d be an annual cost-of-living increase that would result in the minimum wage growing each year.
Nebraska voters widely supported raising the minimum wage in 2014. Nearly 60% backed an initiative that increased it from $7.25 an hour to its current $9 an hour.
Business groups oppose the measure, saying it could hurt small-business owners who already are having difficulty filling jobs as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts also is opposed. However, supporters said raising the wage will help people living in poverty and working multiple jobs to make ends meet.
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