By Kate Rogers, CNBC
Huffington Post, October 7, 2014
... Four states have proposals on their ballots to raise the minimum wage beyond the federal, hourly rate of $7.25—Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. Notice a trend? All four are red states, and voter-approved wage gains in those predominantly Republican states could bolster the push for higher living wages ...
While minimum wage often is perceived as a liberal issue, there's support for the cause across party lines nationwide, said Holly Sklar, director of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national group.
"Among the American public generally, and even among business people, there's strong support in red states," Sklar said. "It's much less partisan than the way it comes across in Congress." ...
On the November ballots, proposals in the four states seek to raise hourly wages to as high as $9.75. Hundreds of thousands of workers would be affected if voters in all four states approved the wage measures. Currently, 26 states plus Washington, D.C. have or will have wages above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour by 2015, according to the National Employment Law Project.
But what's the potential impact to small businesses, where cost changes potentially are felt more sharply compared with larger employers? ...
Michael Kanter's business Cambridge Naturals sells natural foods. He's based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which will have one of the highest hourly wages of any state, $11 by 2017.
Kanter already pays his workers well above minimim wage, at $12 an hour, and said it has never crossed his mind to lower wages. "It helps retain employees to pay them more money," he said.
And content employees creates a positive ripple effect for the company. "They're more likely to stay with us; they're happier on the job and communicate the value of our business to customers," Kanter said. "It's a valuable multiplier effect."
That includes employee retention. "We look at retaining employees as a real investment," he said. ...
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