By Caroline Glenn
Orlando Sentinel, Oct 23, 2020. Also Yahoo News

The debate over raising Florida’s minimum wage has largely pitted employers, who argue it would be too costly, against workers, who say they can’t live off the current $8.56 an hour. A newly formed coalition of Florida businesses that back Amendment 2 wants to change that narrative.

Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, which includes restaurants, manufacturers, hoteliers and clothing boutiques, was formed in the months before the Nov. 3 election when Floridians will decide on the amendment. If passed with 60% of...

By Scott Fuhrman
Miami Herald, Oct 23, 2020

People have been at the heart of Lakewood's success since the beginning, when we sold fresh fruit and juices out of a small warehouse in Allapattah to hotels on Miami Beach. Now, we are the nation's largest family-owned and operated organic juice company. We're still following a people- centered business model.

We pay a living wage plus benefits to every employee, from our juice makers to janitorial staff. We're proud to have multiple generations of families working here. Their dedication and loyalty help make our business what...

By McKenna Schuler
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Oct 21, 2020

... Amendment 2: Vote Yes

Amendment 2, also known as the Fair Wage Amendment, would gradually raise Florida’s minimum wage from its current $8.56 to $15.00 by 2026, beginning with an increase to $10.00 next September. ... Supporters—like, actual low wage workers, along with Orlando attorney John Morgan’s PAC, Florida for a Fair Wage—say the amendment would uplift thousands of Floridians and their families out of poverty. Over 120 Florida business leaders from a variety of industries have expressed their support for a $15 minimum living...

Southwest Florida Business Today, Oct 19, 2020

As early voting begins across Florida today, business owners and executives in the growing Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage coalition are supporting Amendment 2, which would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026.

These business leaders say that raising the minimum wage will boost consumer spending, strengthen Florida’s workforce, and help businesses and the economy. They have signed the Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Statement, saying, “Grocery workers, healthcare aides, cleaning staff, childcare workers and other Floridians are working at the $8.56 minimum...

Op-Ed By Jared Meyers, Owner, Legacy Vacation Resorts and Salt Palm Development

People are at the center of the hospitality business. How we treat people matters every day — from our employees to our community to our guests. ...

By Daniel Figueroa IV
WMNF 88.5 (Tampa), Oct 14, 2020

A new poll from St. Leo University shows growing support for Amendment 2, to raise Florida’s minimum wage.

Tampa’s own Disco Dolls Studio recently signed on to join Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, but have believed in the cause for years.

By Gary Fineout
POLITICO Florida Playbook, Oct 13, 2020

... CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP — … A new coalition of more than 100 Florida business owners and executives calling itself Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage has signed on in support of Amendment 2, the proposed citizen initiative to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. ...

Read more

Op-Ed By Satchel Raye, Owner, Satchel's Pizza
... Paying a living wage is good for everyone. That’s why I support ballot Amendment 2 to raise Florida’s minimum wage. ...

By Jennifer Holton
FOX 13 News (Tampa), Oct 7, 2020

... Danielle Ferrari, who owns Valhalla Resale in Tampa, supports the amendment.

“Right now our minimum wage in Florida is set at a poverty rate, and the right thing to do is to pay people a fair wage for the work that they do.”

Ferrari disagrees with Horne’s notion that the increase would drive prices up.

“When our communities are raised up from poverty, sales for local businesses will have to go up.” ...

WATCH VIDEO

Read more

By Megan Cruz and Adam Poulisse
WFTV9 ABC (Orlando),  Oct 7, 2020

WATCH VIDEO with Jared Meyers, Owner, Legacy Vacation Resorts

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — This year, there’s a constitutional amendment on the ballot to increase Florida’s minimum wage to $15. The increase would be a gradual move to $15 from $8.56 right now, to $10 next September and then $1 every other year until we got to $15 on Sept. 30, 2026.

If at least 60% of voters are for it, the ballot will pass.

John Morgan who founded the country’s largest personal injury firm, Morgan &...

By Kirby Wilson
Tampa Bay Times, Sep. 23, 2020

Florida voters have the power to dramatically change the laws of the state on Nov. 3. Half a dozen constitutional amendments could permanently shape Florida policy ...

Amendment 2: Raising Florida’s Minimum Wage

... This ballot initiative would gradually raise the minimum wage in Florida to $15 per hour by 2026. Florida’s current minimum wage is $8.56 per hour, greater than the $7.25 federal minimum wage.

The amendment would help level the playing field for workers, says Florida for a Fair Wage, the initiative’s sponsor organization...

By Nancy Luna
Nation's Restaurant News, Sep 16, 2020

As restaurants slowly return to dine-in service where they can, thousands of jobs have been restored. But how restaurants view and pay their workforce is evolving. ... Industry watchers say the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have amplified the ongoing debate about paying restaurant workers a living wage and the inequities between the front and back of house, especially in “tip credit” states. ...

Since the beginning of the pandemic-related restaurant shutdown, most foodservice jobs were considered essential ... The work is risky, stressful...

Minimum wage is meant to be a living wage, but falls short by a lot

By Andrew Bloomenthal
Investopedia, Aug 18, 2020

The federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25. It is meant to be a living wage, but this isn't the case in practice. The hourly rate hasn’t kept up with the cost of living since the late 1960s. ...

In 1933, five years before the first minimum wage became law, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: “By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level. I mean the wages of a decent living."...

By Andy Medici
Washington Business Journal, Aug 11, 2020

... Boloco co-founder John Pepper’s journey began as part of a business school project, eventually growing to 22 locations that he sold to a private equity firm before buying it back years later to save what remained of the ailing chain. Set up as a B Corporation that balances profits with social value, Pepper put most of the profits into paying employees and promoting from within.

... 2020 had been looking up, with sales increasing 8% in an increasingly competitive landscape. Then Covid-19 swept across the country...

By Joyce M. Rosenberg
Associated Press (AP), August 2, 2020

... Government coronavirus loans in the spring helped eating establishments rehire laid-off employees and ride out the pandemic’s initial surge and wave of shutdown orders.

But that Paycheck Protection Program money has now been spent at many restaurants, leaving them in the same precarious position they were in during outbreak’s early days: Thousands of restaurants are being forced to close down again on mandates from state and local officials combating the virus’s resurgence, particularly in the South and West. And even in parts of the country...