By Chabeli Carrazana
The 19th, Nov 3, 2020

In a year of unprecedented job loss for the nation’s low-wage workforce, Floridians voted to offer some relief in the form of a pay raise. 

A constitutional amendment on the ballot to raise Florida’s hourly minimum wage from $8.56 today to $15 in 2026 passed with 61 percent of the vote ...

Other businesses say paying workers above minimum wage has other benefits, including improved retention rates and productivity. 

At Love Life Cafe in Miami, co-owner Veronica Menin said she pays her entry-level dishwashers $12 an hour and pay goes...

By Daniel Villarreal
Newsweek, Nov 3, 2020

Florida just became the eighth U.S. state to raise its minimum wage to $15, thanks to the passage of Amendment 2. ...

California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have all passed various legislation to raise their minimum wages to $15. All of the plans, like Florida's involve a gradual phasing in of the increased wage.

Supporters of Florida's amendment said it would lift millions of low-wage employees out of poverty, including women and people of color who disproportionately work longer in lower-wage positions. A September 2020...

By McKenna Schueler
Orlando Weekly, Nov 3, 2020. Also in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

Florida’s Amendment 2 – aka the $15 Minimum Wage Initiative – has passed with more than 60 percent voter approval in a major victory for Florida’s low-wage workers. ...

Get-out-the-vote efforts for Amendment 2 were also bolstered by the grassroots Florida for 15 coalition – composed of more than 20 pro-labor organizations and unions, and driven by Florida’s essential workers – and the Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage coalition, which boasted a membership of more than 150 Florida business owners...

By Ryan Lynch
Orlando Business Journal, Nov 3, 2020

The fight to raise Florida's minimum wage comes to a head on Election Day. ... The move comes as Orlando is the second-worst metro in Florida for minimum wage worker livability and 57th out of 75 of the most-populated U.S. cities, according to Salt Lake City-based Move.org. Only Miami was worse in Florida. ...

Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a coalition of roughly 160 businesses that approve of the increase, includes a number of local businesses. ... [John] Morgan was among those business owners that signed on in...

By McKenna Schueler
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Nov 2, 2020

As Election Day arrives, a growing coalition of Florida business owners and executives—dubbed Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage—are calling for the passage of Florida’s Amendment 2.

In a statement posted to its website,  the coalition—including almost two dozen from Tampa and St. Petersburg—wrote that, “Today, grocery workers, healthcare aides, cleaning staff, childcare workers and other Floridians are working at the $8.56 minimum wage or near it. We can’t build a shared recovery on a minimum wage that’s too low to live on.”...

By Mike Schneider
Associated Press (AP), Oct 31, 2020

ORLANDO — Joseph Gourgue wishes he could help out his children and grandchildren financially, but his $9 an hour wage as a wheelchair attendant at Orlando International Airport doesn’t let him. ...

Having workers earn a good wage makes them more productive and willing to stay, especially in an industry like the restaurant business, which has high turnover, said Diego Tosoni, a Miami restauranteur who supports Amendment 2.

Tosoni, who with his partner owns two Love Life Café locations in Miami and is planning a new one...

Gulfshore Business, Business Daily, Oct 30, 2020

... FLORIDA BUSINESS COALITION BACKING AMENDMENT 2 GROWS TO MORE THAN 150 BUSINESSES

A growing coalition of more than 150 business owners across Florida is calling for passage of Amendment 2, which would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026. Florida Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, which includes restaurants, retail, manufacturers, tourism, personal services, construction, and more, says minimum wage increases will boost consumer spending, strengthen Florida’s workforce and help the economy. If passed – with a 60% majority required for approval – Amendment...

By Antonio Fins
Palm Beach Post, Oct. 30, 2020

... The [$15 minimum wage] amendment has picked up support from small-business owners, too.

By Laura Layden
Naples Daily News, Oct 29, 2020

A longtime fight for a $15 minimum wage in Florida will be decided Tuesday....

Tom Williams, the owner of Williams Agencies, a life insurance business with an office in Fort Myers, is for the change, which he said is sorely needed.

He's paid his starting workers at least $12 an hour for more than two years — and before that his lowest earners made $10, he said. And he has no qualms about raising his minimum hourly pay to $15 over the next few years. ... 

Paying higher...

By Ashley Portero
South Florida Business Journal, Oct 29, 2020

Jennifer Todd knows what it’s like to barely make ends meet. She spent years earning $12 an hour working as a secretary before launching Pompano Beach-based LMS General Contractors, a construction and demolition company, in 2013. ...

“I want [my employees] to be able to come to work without worrying about how they’re going to get to and from the job, or how they’re going to buy groceries,” she said. “I’ve been on that side and I don’t want them in that position.”

Todd supports Florida’s Amendment...

Op-Ed By Fadi Dib, Owner, Cali's Beauty Supply

As a small business owner, I’m happy to see an amendment to raise Florida’s minimum wage on the ballot. ...

By Jonathan Bernstein
Bloomberg, Oct 26, 2020

t’s not just candidates on the ballot next Tuesday. As usual, there are a host of ballot measures - 120 statewide ones, plus various local questions... These are the top five I’m watching ...

Florida’s Amendment 2 : Raise the State Minimum Wage to $15

Florida is also considering raising the state minimum wage to $15 [link: New coalition of Florida businesses backs Amendment 2 to raise minimum wage to $15].
This one is important because of the signal it may send to national Democrats if they achieve unified party government. ...

Read more

By Hanna Raskin
Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), Oct 26, 2020

...Has [Rep. Jim] Clyburn ever worked in a restaurant? Yes
First-ever favorite restaurant: Clyburn Cafe, a family owned and operated restaurant on West Liberty Street in Sumter. ...

Do you support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour?

Yes, I believe this measure is critical. Last year, the House passed the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage, reaching $15 an hour in six years and indexed to inflation thereafter. Restaurant jobs, like all jobs, must pay a living wage...

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...