Thursday, November 28, 2024
U.S. Election Results
Ballot Measures Show Workers Stand Up
for
Rights and Pro-Social Demands
• Ballot Measures
Show Workers Stand Up for
Rights
and Pro-Social Demands
• Support for Minimum Wage Increases and Sick Leave Measures
• Support for Measures Funding Child Care and Environment
U.S. Election Results
Ballot Measures Show Workers Stand Up for Rights and Pro-Social Demands
While
every effort is being made to brand U.S. workers as backward and
racist
because the rulers selected Trump as president, voting for
ballot
measures across the country show that stands were repeatedly
taken in
support of workers' and women's rights, for the right to
education and
environmental protection. This branding of states as "red,"
pro-Trump,
or "blue," pro-Harris, does not reflect the stands and
collective
consciousness of working people across the country which is
pro-rights
and pro-social. It is meant to divide workers by promoting false
notions about people based on who they voted for, not the stands
they
take and the struggles they wage.
In the 2024 election, 159 statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in 41 states. Additional measures were approved at the county and city level. The articles below look at some of the more significant issues addressed by ballot measures.
Organizing to get the measures on the ballot is extremely difficult, requiring large numbers of signatures, ballot committees, financial reports to the state, and more. Nebraska, for example, had six ballot measures and a total of 700,000 signatures were collected. For Nebraska, it takes at least five per cent of registered voters in at least 38 of the state's 93 counties, to qualify. The signatures of registered voters, not people eligible to vote, must be verified and are often challenged to block measures from getting on the ballot. While requirements vary from state to state, as does the time limit for securing signatures, tens of thousands of signatures are usually required.
Securing ballot measures are major organizing tools used by workers, their unions and rights organizations to secure state-wide recognition of their demands. Once on the ballot, another major campaign is needed to inform and mobilize the public to support the given measure. Private interests often oppose these efforts, like the restaurant monopolies, anti-union monopolies, or those opposing funding for public education, or environmental issues and more.
To get the measures passed, working people vigorously organize and politically mobilize the public to counter the millions of dollars spent by the private interests involved to spread disinformation and fear.
On issues of wages and sick leave, voters approved minimum wage increases to $15 per hour in two states, Alaska and Missouri. Voters expanded workers' ability to earn paid sick leave in three states, Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska. In a win for tipped workers, Arizona voters blocked proposition 138 pushed by restaurant chains that would have lowered their wages by 25 per cent.
Alaska voters opted to ban mandatory "captive audience" company meetings at work on political or religious topics. These are commonly used by the giant monopolies to prevent unionization. Alaska joins 11 other states with similar laws. Oregon voters passed a measure to protect cannabis workers' right to unionize.
Voters
passed a state constitutional right to abortion in seven states:
Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New
York.
These measures mean the right to abortion cannot be eliminated
through
legislation. In Florida, the measure secured 57 per cent of the
vote
but the state
requires 60 per cent for constitutional measures, so it failed
to pass.
Organizers were nonetheless positive about the results, as
despite huge
pressure against the measure, the majority supported it. South
Dakota's
similar proposition failed as did Nebraska's.
Proposals providing government funding for child care passed in California, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, Texas and Washington State. Those for funding education passed in Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Utah. Measures supporting school vouchers, which provide public dollars for private schools and are backed by billionaires, were soundly defeated in Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska. Funding for the environment passed in California, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Rhode Island.
The articles below provide more information about these various measures. All of them make clear that working people in state after state after state defended rights and demanded increased funding for social programs.
Support for Minimum Wage
Increases and
Sick
Leave Measures
Press
conference January 9, 2024 in Anchorage, Alaska after signatures were
collected to put increasing Alaska's minimum wage and paid sick days on
the ballot in the 2024 election
The federal minimum wage in the U.S., which sets the standard and is required in all states, remains at $7.25 an hour, well below the poverty level. It has not been raised since 2009. Even the $15 an hour being fought for is right at the poverty level for a family of four which is said to be $31,200 yearly for full-time work.
Alaska voters passed Ballot Measure 1 to increase the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour by July 1, 2027. It is estimated that this will increase pay for 30,000 workers. Additionally, the measure requires employers to provide earned paid sick leave, up to 56 hours per year for larger employers and 40 hours per year at businesses with fewer than 15 workers.
Missouri passed Proposition A to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour and provide earned paid sick leave at a rate of one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked. Studies estimate the measure will raise wages for more than 560,000 Missouri workers and provide paid sick leave to 730,000 workers.
Nebraska's Amendment 436 passed, requiring businesses to provide earned paid sick leave to employees. Workers at larger businesses will have up to seven days a year and small businesses with less than 20 workers five paid sick days a year.
Supporting incarcerated workers,
voters in Nevada passed Question 4
to abolish slavery in prisons, joining eight other states that
have
passed similar ballot measures in recent years, including
Oregon, Utah,
Alabama, Tennessee, and Vermont. The measures remove language in
their
state
constitutions permitting slavery or involuntary servitude as
punishment
for a crime. These efforts expose the fact that the U.S. Constitution
allows for such penal slavery.
Question 3 in Massachusetts passed, creating a state-level framework that rideshare drivers can use to form organizations authorized to bargain with rideshare companies over wages and working conditions, without addressing the question of drivers' legal status. Rideshare companies have long fought to keep drivers classified as independent contractors which exempts them from the protections of many state and federal laws and blocks unionization by denying there is a collective bargaining unit.
In Denver, Colorado, a large majority of voters approved Question 2U, a local ordinance to extend collective bargaining rights to 7,000 municipal workers. Colorado has legislation for collective bargaining rights for some state and county workers, but many local workers are not included.
As an example of working people putting forward alternatives, in Glendale, Arizona, Proposition 499 called for raising the minimum wage for hotel and event center workers to $20 an hour (with annual increases) and set various standards for hotel work hours. It called for a new city Department of Labor Standards dedicated to investigating employer violations such as wage theft and overtime violations. While it did not pass, organizing for it brought these issues to public attention.
Mobilizing for the Workers' Bill of Rights in New Orleans,
Louisiana during 2024 election
Similarly in New Orleans, Louisiana, voters passed a Workers' Bill of Rights amendment to the city charter. It affirms rights such as living wages, paid leave and health care, and the right to unionize. The campaign to get it passed brought to the fore that living wages, paid leave, health care, the right to unionize and organize are all rights government is duty bound to provide. However, state law does not require that such local measures upholding rights be enforced. Organizers put forward that even so, fighting for the measure put the issue of rights front and centre.
Overwhelming Rejection of
Trump-Backed
Voucher Measures and Support for Increased Funding
for Public
Education
In Colorado voters rejected Amendment 80, protecting public
schools by rejecting
voucher system.
A main front for the privatization of public education in the
U.S. and
specifically undermining public K-12 schools is the promotion of
vouchers. Vouchers take public dollars away from public schools
to pay
for tuition in private schools. Multi-billionaires like Charles
Koch,
Chairman of Koch,
Inc., the U.S.'s second largest private company, Betsy DeVos,
Trump's
former Secretary of Education, and Jeff Yass, cofounder of
Susquehanna
International Group, one of Wall Street's largest trading firms,
are
major funders of efforts to secure laws and ballot measures in
support
of vouchers. Trump backs
vouchers and is considering securing federal funds for that
purpose. In
the U.S., funding for education is state and locally based, with
the
federal government only providing about 13 per cent of funding.
People across the country have repeatedly rejected the use of vouchers and opposed privatization of public education. While there are also demands to raise the quality of public schools, there is a collective consciousness that the government is responsible for guaranteeing the right to education and vouchers undermine that.
In Colorado voters rejected Amendment 80, by 51 per cent. It would have provided for a state constitutional "right to school choice" for K-12 students and established the groundwork for private school vouchers. It is estimated that vouchers would have robbed the public of at least $640 million.
In
Kentucky, a majority of voters in every county in the state
rejected
Amendment 2, which would have allowed the state legislature to
provide
state funding to K-12 students outside of public schools. The
voucher
measure was defeated by about 65 per cent of voters. Studies
found that
passing the amendment and creating a state subsidy program for
private
schools would have meant private use of $1.19 billion in public
dollars, equivalent to the funds needed to employ 9,869 Kentucky
public
school teachers and employees.
In Nebraska, people approved Referendum 435, with 57 per cent in favor, repealing a state law that allowed the state to spend up to $10 million a year on subsidizing tuition for K-12 students who attend private schools. Getting Referendum 435 on the ballot and securing approval faced major opposition from pro-voucher forces like DeVos. It is the first outright repeal of vouchers on record.
The people of Nebraska and Kentucky are among those that have been branded as Trump supporters, simply because he secured the most votes in their states. These ballot questions show otherwise. Vouchers are widely opposed by the public, who stand for the right to education and government responsibility for it.
School Funding Measures
In addition to opposing the use of public dollars for private education, ballot questions also involved demands that government fund public education. These took place in Arkansas, California, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Utah. All the measures demanding increased funding for education passed.
Ballot questions generally cannot make direct demands on state budgets. This is because the people do not have the right to decide budget funding, a right regularly demanded from state and local legislatures as people demonstrate for increased funding for social programs.
To secure funding, ballot measures commonly demand that states issue bonds, with the funds designated for specific needs. This also ensures that those who supported the measures and organized to get them on the ballot remain alert to ensure the state implements them.
In Arkansas, Issue 1, with a vote of 90 per cent in favor, means that the state lottery proceeds will fund scholarships and grants for public and private vocational-technical schools and technical institutes.
In California, Proposition 2, with 59 per cent in favor, requires the state to issue $10 billion in bonds to fund construction and modernization of public education facilities.
In New Mexico, Question 3, with 66 per cent in favor, means the state must issue $230.26 million in bonds to fund capital improvement projects for public higher education institutions, special public schools, and tribal schools.
In Rhode Island, Question 2, with 60 per cent, requires the state to issue $160.5 million in bonds for improvements to public higher education facilities.
In Utah, Amendment B, with 71 per cent in favor, means the annual distribution limit from the State School Fund for public education increases from 4 per cent to 5 per cent.
Support for Measures Funding
Child Care
and
the Environment
In the U.S., people's anger with how tax dollars are spent includes opposition to the refusal of governments to stop paying the rich, often for jobs they do not deliver, and government failure to provide for social programs. In the recent U.S. election, ballot measures were organized to secure funding for specific programs. At least a dozen measures were on ballots across the country proposing tax increases or new revenue streams to pay for childcare and other child-related services. Voters overwhelmingly chose to maintain or increase spending on these initiatives. Similarly, measures to fund protection of the environment also passed.
Getting these measures on the ballot and campaigns to ensure they passed required huge political mobilization and organizing efforts, often in the face of millions of dollars spent by anti-people forces to block their efforts.
In Washington State, Initiative 2109 was an effort by hedge fund executives to repeal a seven per cent excise tax on capital gains that passed in 2021 and has since provided $1.3 billion in childcare and early learning subsidies. The tax impacts fewer than one per cent of the state's richest residents. The measure to repeal it was voted down and funding will remain in place.
In Colorado, Proposition KK passed, establishing a $39 million fund by imposing a 6.5 per cent excise tax on guns and ammunition. The money is directed at mental health services for crime victims and veterans, with $3 million in funding for behavioral health services for children.
In Nevada, Question 5 on the ballot passed, exempting diapers from sales tax, starting on January 1, 2025.
In Sonoma County, California, voters passed Measure I which approved a quarter-cent countywide sales tax to create a local revenue stream that would help pay for childcare and children's health with a special emphasis on children who experience homelessness. The initiative gained more than 20,000 signatures from registered voters to qualify for the November ballot.
In Grand County, Colorado, Ballot Measure 1A passed. It increases the county's lodging tax (on hotels) from 1.8 per cent to 2 per cent, with the revenue paying for tourism, housing, and childcare.
In La Plata County, Colorado, Ballot Issue 1A also passed, redirecting up to 70 per cent of revenue from a lodger's tax toward childcare and affordable housing.
In Montrose, Colorado, Ballot Issue 2A passed and will increase the city's hotel tax and put 17 per cent of the revenue toward local childcare.
In Platte County, Missouri, the Platte County Children's Services Fund measure passed, with a quarter cent sales tax increase to create a revenue stream for mental health programs, including early childhood screening.
In Travis County, Texas, Proposition A passed. It calls for a property tax increase to raise more than $75 million to create affordable childcare spots and mitigate the loss of federal pandemic funds for local childcare programs.
Environment
Measures to fund conservation and contend with environmental destruction passed in California, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota and Rhode Island. People are remaining vigilant that government implement the measures passed in a manner consistent with the demands to protect the environment.
In California, Proposition 4 authorized the government to borrow $10 billion for a number of environmental projects, including mitigation of the state's mega-drought –- which is considered the worst in 1,200 years. The money will also fund efforts to prevent wildfires and protect coastal areas from sea level rise.
A ballot measure in Colorado approved the use of tax revenue from sports betting -– which has been legal in the state since 2020 -– for water conservation and management projects.
In Minnesota, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to continue allocating at least 40 per cent of state lottery revenue to an environment and natural resources trust fund until 2050. Since its creation in 1988, the fund has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into more than 1,700 projects statewide. The amendment also sets up a new community grant program for "helping adversely impacted communities respond to environmental degradation and related health concerns."
Rhode Islanders approved $53 million in government borrowing for projects related to flood prevention, restoring coastal habitats, and improving forest health.
In Louisiana, voters supported a constitutional amendment requiring federal revenue from offshore energy generation -– including wind, solar and tidal energy, in addition to oil and gas –- to be placed in a fund for coastal restoration. The Louisiana fund does "critical work in combating erosion made worse by climate change and thereby improving the sustainability of the state's economy and the well-being of its people."
(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)
Website: www.cpcml.ca • Email: editor@cpcml.ca