Progressive groups are trying to use Portland's initiative — and a similar one in D.C. — as national test cases for the next front in their long-running battle to hike pay floors across the country: minimum wage for tipped workers
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 ImagesLocal 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.
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. “We’re hoping we will be a touch point for other federal legislators who are interested in working on this, to be able to say, ‘Well, it worked in Portland,’” said Maine Rep. Mike Sylvester, who chairs his legislature’s labor caucus and backed the Portland initiative.
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