An Alaska Workers Bill of Rights.

Why this campaign

An Employee Bill of Rights fits our first principle — organize and empower people to make a difference — better than almost any other measure, because the campaign is the empowerment. Every signature gathered is a conversation about work, dignity, and power. It's not a crowded issue space in Alaska, and the state just proved the model works.

In 2024, Alaska voters passed Ballot Measure 1 by citizen initiative. Effective July 2025, it raised the minimum wage ($13 in 2025 → $14 in 2026 → $15 in 2027, then indexed to inflation), guaranteed paid sick leave, and barred "captive audience" meetings. That's the proof of concept: a worker-rights package can win statewide at the ballot box. So this slate doesn't re-fight those battles — they're already law. It picks up the protections Alaska workers still don't have.

The core idea: the slate is the bill of rights

The "Workers Bill of Rights" is not one initiative. It's a slate of individual single-subject initiatives — just cause, pay transparency, non-compete ban, fair scheduling — each its own measure, assembled over multiple cycles. Alaska's single-subject rule turns from a legal headache into the organizing engine:

• Each issue becomes its own campaign. A single, clear ask ("you should be told the pay before you apply") is far easier to gather signatures around than a sprawling omnibus. One idea per door.
• It gives every cell something to own. Different cells can carry different initiatives, keeping the whole federation busy at once.
• It compounds. Win pay transparency this cycle, just cause the next — each victory is a building block.
• It de-risks. A bundled omnibus dies whole if one plank is toxic. A slate fails gracefully — a weak plank can sit out a cycle without sinking the rest.

So the question for the workshop isn't "what goes in the one measure." It's which single-subject initiative we launch first, and in what order the rest follow.

The hard constraints

Alaska's initiative process has three limits that shape everything. All should be confirmed with counsel and the Division of Elections before launch.

• Single subject. Every initiative must cover only one subject (Art. XI). Rather than fight this, the slate design uses it — each plank runs as its own clean measure.
• No appropriations, no dedicated revenue. An initiative can't fund a new enforcement agency. So every plank has to be self-enforcing — chiefly a private right of action (workers can sue, with attorney's fees and statutory damages), leaning on the existing Department of Labor rather than new state spending.
• Signatures — and the geography rule. Qualifying needs signatures equal to 10% of the last general election's votes, and at least 7% in 30 of 40 House districts. You literally cannot qualify on Anchorage alone — which maps exactly onto organizing the whole state.

Timing: signatures are due before the legislative session convenes in January, within 365 days of booklet issuance. File after July 1 of a year and it lands on the next year's ballot. Work backward from the target election.

The menu of planks

Each plank is flagged Gap (Alaska law doesn't do this yet — a candidate) or Done (already covered by Measure 1 — listed only so cells know why it's excluded).

Sequencing the slate

The decision isn't "what's in the bill" — it's the order of campaigns. Lead with a plank that's easy to explain at a door, broadly popular across rural and urban districts (remember: 30 of 40), and low on organized opposition. Bank an early win, build the muscle and the list, then escalate.

• Strong opener — pay transparency. One-sentence ask, no real constituency against it, cheap to comply with. High odds of a first win.
• Good early companions — non-compete ban and salary-history ban. Both popular; the salary-history ban is a natural sequel to transparency.
• The marquee fight — just cause. The most transformative plank and the heart of any bill of rights, but the most contested. Best run after a win or two has proven the operation.
• Backbone in every measure — anti-retaliation + private right of action. Since initiatives can't fund an enforcer, each measure carries its own enforcement-by-lawsuit teeth.

How we'll talk about it

• Lead with dignity and fairness, not "regulation." You shouldn't be fired for no reason, kept in the dark about your pay, or robbed of wages you earned.
• Alaska-grown: Measure 1 already won; this finishes the job.
• Pro-worker, not anti-employer: most good Alaska employers already do these things. This sets a floor for the ones who don't.
• Expect the "job-killer" counterattack — have the rebuttal, and the Measure 1 precedent, ready before launch.

Open questions for the workshop

• Which single-subject initiative launches first, and what's the 2–3 cycle sequence behind it?
• How aggressive on enforcement given the no-appropriations limit — purely private right of action, or also a complaint path through the existing DOL?
• Which plank polls best in rural and Bush districts? (We need 30 of 40.)
• Target election year, working backward from the January signature deadline.
• Confirm the exact current signature count with the Division of Elections.

Sources

Ballot Measure 1 (2024) provisions — Davis Wright Tremaine, Littler. Initiative subject restrictions & single-subject rule (Art. XI) — Ballotpedia, Alaska Constitution Art. XI. Signature requirements & distribution — Ballotpedia. Current Alaska gaps — SixFifty, MyWorkLaws. Worker Bill of Rights model — Spokane (In These Times), Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

Want to weigh in on which plank goes first? Get your Discord roles and join the debate in your district's cell.