By Jeremy Allen
MLive (MI), Jan 30, 2014
U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, State Rep. Adam Zemke, D-Ann Arbor, and State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, have scheduled a 3:30 p.m. “late lunch” at Zingerman’s Deli on Detroit Street in Ann Arbor to talk about Saginaw’s recent trip to Washington D.C., and the impacts of increased wages for low earners.
During Saginaw’s trip, he and several other business owners across the country met with the U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez to lobby for an increase in the national minimum from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 hourly with additional annual cost-of-living adjustments.
“We’ve grown since opening Zingerman’s Delicatessen almost 32 years ago to eight businesses in Ann Arbor employing 625 permanent staff with revenues just under $50 million dollars,” Saginaw said in a Jan. 23 the roundtable discussion with the other business owners in Washington D.C.
“Paying entry wages our employees can live on has contributed to our profitability and our annual compounded growth rate of 10 percent. Raising the minimum wage is long overdue.”
Saginaw added that paying a higher wage doesn’t just benefit the workers, but ultimately the employers also see benefits from paying what he calls a “thrive-able wage” due to employees’ increased buying power and willingness to spend more money. ...
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