Key Issues in Colorado

Amendment 42: Raising Colorado’s Minimum Wage

The minimum wage in Colorado is currently the same as the federal wage—$5.15.

But union activists, together with members of the community, are campaigning for an initiative to be added to the ballot this year to raise the minimum wage to $6.85.

On Aug. 3, activists in the AFL-CIO America Needs a Raise campaign turned in more than 130,000 voter signatures to the Colorado secretary of state. It takes just 67,289 signatures to win a ballot spot.

On Aug. 16, the Colorado secretary of state certified the signatures.  The initiative to raise the minimum wage will appear on the ballot in November as Amendment 42.

If passed, the initiative will boost the state minimum wage from $5.15 an hour—the current federal minimum wage—to $6.85.

• AFL-CIO   website: Colorado   Needs A Raise
• AFL-CIO Now Blog: Colorado Voters Get a Chance to Raise the Minimum Wage

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