November 4, 2014 — Alaska's minimum wage initiative flew mostly under the radar this fall, overshadowed by high-profile Congressional races. But ballot measure three proposes a big change to state's minimum wage structure — increasing it by two dollars over the next two years, to $9.75 an hour. After that, it would be adjusted for inflation.
In Unalaska, at least 83 percent of voters supported that plan. The seafood industry — which is the biggest source of minimum wage jobs in Unalaska — didn't expect anything less.
Leading up to the election, they were already considering ways to scale back their workforce.
"We'll have people who, as they retire out of the industry, we just won't replace them," says Alyeska Seafoods plant manager Don Goodfellow. "Machinery will take over a lot of those jobs."
Eventually, Goodfellow thinks up to 30 percent of Unalaska's processing workers could be automated. He says the seafood business is well overdue to make that kind of change.