By Lisa Jennings
Nation's Restaurant News, May 2, 2019

Five years ago, the proposal for a $15 per hour minimum wage seemed a ridiculous suggestion coming from radical fringe groups. ... Today, it seems restaurant operators are increasingly seeing $15 an hour as inevitable at a time when attracting and keeping good workers is harder than ever. ...

But restaurants are not dying. They are adapting by changing the way they think about attracting and retaining workers.

Perhaps the forces behind the “Fight for $15” movement can take some credit, spurring the ongoing debate around...

Op-Ed By Howard Hanna, Owner, The Rieger
... Two things are clear: First, the minimum wage hasn’t kept up with the cost of living ... And second, paying higher wages has real bottom-line business benefits. ...

By Joe Tompkins
Meadville Tribune (PA), April 24, 2019

There’s been a renewed push to raise the federal and state minimum wage to $15 per hour and, naturally, the conservative pushback has been strong. ... Their reasoning plays more on fear than facts — myths that keep people at poverty wages. ...

Myth No. 3: Raising the minimum wage is bad for business because it raises prices. It’s certainly true that raising the minimum wage will increase labor costs, but that doesn’t mean prices have to go up. Even when they do, price increases are typically minimal...

By Zach Sparks
Pasadena Voice, April 18, 2019

... Minimum Wage

Both the House and Senate overrode Hogan’s veto of a bill that will increase the minimum wage to $11 by January 1, 2020. Businesses with 15 or more employees must increase that wage by 75 cents per year until reaching $15 in 2025. Businesses with 14 or fewer employees will increase the rate by 60 cents per year, reaching $15 in 2026. ...

Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, was one of the bill’s supporters. “An increase in the...

By Richard Bishop
Letter to the Editor, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, April 16, 2019

Sullying good name

As a small-business owner, I was relieved when legislation trying to weaken the law raising the minimum wage was voted down in the Legislature recently. I, along with the majority of Arkansans, voted to raise the minimum wage last November because it makes good economic sense. Some lawmakers tried to use the good name of small business as a reason to weaken the law. That's offensive to small-business owners like myself.

Workers in one business are customers at another. Raising...

By Kaylea Granville
Baltimore Watchdog, March 29, 2019

The Fight for $15 Coalition is basking in the glow of victory Friday now that the Maryland Legislature has rejected Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage from the current $10.10 an hour to $15 an hour by 2025.

“When workers have more money, they’ll spend more money that’s poured into smaller businesses,” said Coalition Chair Ricarra Jones. ...

Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said, “Raising the minimum wage is a vital investment in...

By Ally Schweitzer
WAMU 88.5, March 28, 2019

... But employers like Tim’s Towing and Tulkoff Food Products are countered by other business owners across the state who say better wages create better employees.

“It’s important to pay people fairly, because I expect them to show up on time and work hard,” says Andrew Buerger, who co-owns B’More Organic, a maker of drinkable Icelandic-style yogurt. “If they have the sniffles, [they] come in. If it’s a snowstorm, they come in. You can’t pay somebody $10 an hour and expect them to give 110 percent.”

Buerger is affiliated with Business for...

By Ally Schweitzer
WAMU 88.5, March 14, 2019

Maryland’s Senate passed a bill Thursday that gradually increases the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour ... though it establishes a slower timeline for employers with 14 or fewer workers. Next the bill moves to the House of Delegates, where legislators recently passed a version of the legislation without a different timeline for smaller employers. If delegates concur with the Senate bill, it will head to Gov. Larry Hogan for him to sign, veto or let become law without his signature. ...

Chambers of commerce on the state...

Op-Ed By Ned Atwater, Owner, Atwater's
... We’ve grown to six restaurant/bakeries, a catering team and a small working farm ... We support raising Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 ...

By Andrew Buerger
Baltimore Sun, Letter to the Editor, March 12, 2019

As a business owner, I’m looking forward to Maryland lawmakers improving our economic climate by raising the minimum wage to $15 (“Maryland House of Delegates approves bill to raise state's hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2025,” Mar. 1). It will be a win-win-win for workers, businesses and customers.

When you invest in your employees, they invest more in your customers. Happy customers lead to a healthier bottom line. Since our founding in 2010, this approach has helped us grow our product distribution from great...

By Ally Schweitzer
WAMU 88.5, March 11, 2019

One of the fiercest debates in Maryland’s General Assembly this year has revolved around how much workers should be paid to care for senior citizens, serve food and perform other tasks essential to the region’s economy and quality of life.

Business owners represented by the Maryland Chamber of Commerce have rallied against a pair of bills that would gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15, saying higher pay would harm small businesses and send jobs to nearby lower-wage states. But they’re countered by other business owners who...

By William J. Ford
Washington Informer, March 9, 2019

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan sent a letter to legislature leadership Friday offering a “compromise” to the ongoing proposal to gradually increase the state’s minimum hourly wage to $15, which the majority Democratic House approved last week. According to the letter addressed to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Michael Busch, the minimum wage would increase to $12.10 by 2022. ...

Several business leaders and advocate groups are pleased lawmakers agreed to the gradual rise to $15 an hour, but want it done...

By Holden Wilen
Baltimore Business Journal, March 7, 2019

A Senate committee advanced a bill that would raise Maryland's minimum wage to $15 per hour after ... The latest version of the bill would slow down incremental increases in the minimum wage so it does not reach $15 for businesses with 14 or fewer employees until 2028. The original bill would have increased the minimum wage for all business to $15 by 2023. ...

Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of Business For a Fair Minimum Wage, said the committee should not have lengthened the timeline for businesses with fewer than 15 employees. [More than] Three out of four businesses will be on the longer timeline, she said.

Op-Ed By Brian England, Owner, BA Auto Care
... What we’ve paid in higher compensation, we have more than reaped in long-term loyalty, low turnover, high numbers of return customers and referrals, and consistent growth. ...

By William J. Ford
Washington Informer, Mar 3, 2019

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland inched closer to gradually increasing the state’s minimum hourly wage to $15 by 2025. The House of Delegates voted 96-44 Friday for the bill, which now goes to the Senate. ...

The state’s current minimum hourly wage stands at $10.10. Under the legislation approved Friday, it would increase to $11 by January 2020, then by 75 cents every year and finally by $1 to $15 by January 2025.

Several business leader and advocate groups are pleased with the House vote, but said it didn’t...