Voters OK pro-worker ballot measures

While the focus on last week’s election results has been on the vote for president of the United States, voters passed a host of worker-friendly ballot measures in states and localities:

• In San Francisco voters approved a ballot measure to raise the business tax on corporations that pay their CEOs more than 100 times what they pay their average employee.
• Earlier this week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously enacted an ordinance giving workers the power to monitor their workplaces' health and safety conditions.
• Florida voters passed Amendment 2, which will raise the state minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour, as did Portland, Maine, which will also require time-and-a-half pay during emergencies.
• And in Colorado, voters approved Proposition 118, providing workers in the state 12 weeks of paid family leave and 16 weeks for the birth of a child.