By Elisha Machado
WWLP -22News, Dec. 15, 2017

BOSTON (WWLP)—A ballot question that would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 dollars per hour by 2022 is still in the running for a spot on the 2018 ballot. ...

Massachusetts minimum wage workers currently make $11 per hour. But you could get a chance to decide whether to increase the state’s minimum wage on the 2018 ballot. It’s a proposal supported by more than 200 Massachusetts business owners with the organization “Business for a Fair Minimum Wage,” including Michael Kanter, owner of Cambirdge Naturals. He raised his...

By Shira Schoenberg
MassLive, The Springfield Republican, Dec 7, 2017

Ballot questions that would raise the minimum wage, lower the sales tax, require employers to offer paid family leave and regulate nurse staffing are all expected to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot in 2018. ...

Minimum wage

A coalition of labor leaders, clergy and liberal organizing groups is pushing a question that would raise the minimum wage from $11 to $15 over four years. It would also raise wages for tipped workers from $3.75 an hour plus tips to $9 an hour plus tips...

By Elisha Machado
WWLP -22News, Dec 7, 2017

BOSTON (WWLP)—A state sales tax reduction and a $15 minimum wage are two of several initiative petitions still in the running to gain a spot on the 2018 ballot. ...

The minimum wage question would increase the state’s minimum wage from $11 per hour to $15 per hour by 2022. Some businesses are supporting the move.

“A really good way to increase consumer spending is to put more money in the pockets of low wage workers,” Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Communications Director Bob Keener said.

Simply submitting signatures...

By Aaron Nicodemus
Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report, Dec 6, 2017

Questions over whether to raise the Massachusetts minimum wage to $15 per hour and establish a paid family and medical leave insurance program are one step closer to appearing on the state’s 2018 ballot. Raise Up Massachusetts submitted 139,055 signatures to Secretary of State William Galvin (D) for the minimum wage ballot question and 135,597 signatures for a ballot question on establishing a paid family and medical leave insurance program, the group said at a news conference ... The minimum wage ballot question asks voters if they would like the...

By Michael P. Norton
State House News Service, Dec 5, 2017

A business owner who raised his company's entry wage to $15 an hour last year says his company has experienced less staff turnover, better customer service, and growing sales since then.

Michael Kanter plans on Tuesday to describe the wage hike's impact as activists submit more than 139,000 signatures to the state in their bid to put a question on the 2018 ballot requiring the minimum wage to rise to $15 an hour by 2022.

"When we announced to customers why we were increasing...

By Michael P. Norton, State House News Service
Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Dec 5, 2017

BOSTON — A business owner who raised his company’s entry wage to $15 an hour last year says his company has experienced less staff turnover, better customer service, and growing sales since then.

Michael Kanter plans on Tuesday to describe the wage hike’s impact as activists submit more than 139,000 signatures to the state in their bid to put a question on the 2018 ballot requiring the minimum wage to rise to $15 an hour by 2022.

“When we announced to customers...

By Eillie Anzilotti
Fast Company, Oct 31, 2017

Serving up unique pies for an affordable price–and a living wage and healthcare for employees–the ethical pizza shop is expanding rapidly.

Michael Lastoria, co-founder, creative director, and CEO of &pizza–dubbed “the pizza shop for the 21st century” by The Washington Post–has vivid memories of opening his first shop on H Street in Northeast D.C. in the summer of 2012. The area was rapidly gentrifying; new restaurants were opening with price tags that placed the new eateries out of reach of the people that had lived around H street their whole lives. So...

Op-Ed By Michael Lastoria  –  Co-founder and CEO, &pizza
Washington Business Journal, Oct 26, 2017

It’s a simple, but critical concept: Take care of your people and your business will thrive for it.

And it’s a concept that’s often missed.

It’s the concept on which I built &pizza, a group of fast-casual pizza shops that has grown largely, if not entirely, on the shoulders of our employees — our Tribe. &pizza now includes four locations in Montgomery County, in addition to 22 others (and growing) in Maryland, D.C. and three other states. We are a family of...

By Jonathan Maze
Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 25, 2017

RSE Ventures, a sports and entertainment venture firm co-founded by the owner of the Miami Dolphins, has invested at least $25 million in the 23-unit fast casual pizza chain &pizza, the company announced on Wednesday. ... It’s the third funding round since 2015 for the Washington, D.C.-based chain, which has now received at least $60 million from investment firms over that period.

The latest funds will help the chain continue its East Coast expansion. The company has locations in D.C., New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The...

By James T. Madore
Newsday, October 20, 2017

...  In Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties the minimum rose from $9 to $10 per hour on Dec. 31, 2016, and it will rise by another $1 each year until $15 is reached in December 2021.

... Not all local manufacturing executives feel burdened by the higher minimum wage. Some are even enthusiastic supporters.

“If you pay employees fairly, you will have less employee turnover, and that reduces your training costs,” said Jon Cooper, president of Spectronics Corp., a Westbury-based producer of ultraviolet lighting and fluorescent dyes...

By Mary C. King
Portland Tribune, Oct 5, 2017

The stronger of two studies of Seattle's recent minimum-wage hikes shows clear gains in weekly earnings and no loss of jobs or hours. ... Seattle's success at pushing fast food restaurants to pay better wages without cutting jobs, is most likely due to higher sales, lower turnover and better employee productivity.

When low-wage workers earn more, they spend more, increasing local sales in ways that business owners often don't anticipate. In February, Marketplace reported that Bill Phelps, CEO of Wetzel's Pretzels — projected to gross $165...

By Rachel Siegel
Washington Post, September 25, 2017

...  Business owners who support a $15 minimum wage include Michael Lastoria, founder of &pizza, which has locations in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia as well as the District, whose city council voted last year to require a $15-an-hour minimum wage by 2020.

Lastoria said higher wages help connect people to their employers and, by reducing turnover, also reduce training costs.

The company currently pays its D.C. employees $13 to $15 an hour. Workers at the Montgomery County stores — in Bethesda, North Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Germantown —...

By Kaitlin Milliken
Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Sept 23, 2017

BOSTON − As state legislators discuss bills to raise the minimum wage, business owners must decide if they are willing − and able − to pay their employees $15 an hour. ... Advocates say higher pay will improve employees’ quality of life, decrease job turnover and increase local spending. ...

“It’s time to ... make sure people can provide for their families and provide a pathway to the middle class,” said Rep. Daniel Donahue, D-Worcester, during a recent press conference at the Statehouse. Donahue is the...

By M.J. Tidwell
Daily Hampshire Gazette, September 22, 2017

BOSTON — Proponents of a bill to gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 spoke at a Statehouse hearing this week about the difficulties of living off the current $11 standard. But they also sympathized with business owners.

Filed by the late state Sen. Ken Donnelly, D-Arlington, and state Rep. Dan Donahue, D-Worcester, the bill is backed by Raise Up Massachusetts and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, coalitions of community organizers, religious groups, labor unions and business owners. ... 

At...

Wicked Local: Arlington Advocate, Brookline Tab, others, Sept 21, 2017

On Sept. 19, Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, testified before the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development in support of S.1004, “An Act to improve the Commonwealth’s economy with a strong minimum wage and a strong tipped minimum wage,” an initiative originally filed by the late Sen. Ken Donnelly. Friedman is leading the effort in the Senate to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. ...

To date, S.1004 has gained widespread support, including 21 Senate co-sponsors, labor unions, religious groups, community organizations, and advocacy...