By Elisha Machado
WWLP-22News, September 19, 2017

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) – A state proposal calls for raising the minimum wage in Massachusetts. Lawmakers heard from the public on a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. 

Minimum wage workers shared their stories with lawmakers on the state’s Committee on Labor and Workforce Development of working two to three jobs just to make ends meet. They’re calling on lawmakers to pass a bill that would gradually raise the minimum wage from $11 to $15 per hour by 2021. ...

Although some large business...

By Katie Johnston
Boston Globe, September 19, 2017

Supporters of a statewide $15 hourly minimum wage packed a State House hearing Tuesday afternoon, testifying that a pay hike would not only help workers support their families, but would stimulate the local economy by giving workers more money to spend. ...

The bills, in the House and Senate, would increase the minimum wage by $1 a year over the course of four years, reaching $15 by 2021, and would also increase the tipped minimum wage, currently $3.75, to the same amount over the course of eight...

Boston Neighborhood Network News, Sept 19, 2017

"Workers, advocates at State House back higher minimum wage" segment includes Rob Everts, Co-CEO, Equal Exchange.

WATCH on YouTube

WATCH Original Segment 1:12 - 3:20

By Bob Salsberg
Associated Press (AP), Sept 19, 2017

Backers of a drive to gradually boost the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour told a legislative committee on Tuesday that many people who work full time at their jobs still live in poverty and struggle to support their families.

The group Raise Up Massachusetts is collecting signatures to put a $15 minimum wage proposal before voters on the November 2018 ballot if the Legislature does not act on a bill during its current two-year session.

In 2014, lawmakers faced with the similar prospect of a ballot...

By Michael J. Bologna
Bloomberg BNA, August 28, 2017

Illinois business groups are breathing a sigh of relief after Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) Aug. 25 vetoed a measure to boost the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022. ... But Illinois isn’t keeping pace with other states, despite its large constituency of top tier employers, according to Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a coalition of business owners that support raising the federal minimum wage. Twenty one states and the District of Columbia have a higher minimum wage than Illinois, according to the...

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, Aug 22, 2017

At Panther Coffee in Miami, no worker is paid under $10 an hour. In fact, including tips, entry-level employees take home about $15 an hour on average, well above the state's minimum of $8.10 an hour. Husband-wife owners Joel and Leticia Pollock say lower wages just aren't an option if they want to be successful.

"To me minimum wage is offensive," Leticia said. "For our business, it's important that people take home a living wage, because we want the team to feel respected, we want people to stay...

By Peter Romeo
Restaurant Business, Aug. 15, 2017

With shoulder-length hair, a bushy beard, the lankiness of a street messiah and the clothing to match, Michael Lastoria looks more like the lead from “Jesus Christ Superstar” than CEO of a pizza chain aiming to stretch capitalism’s possibilities. ...

You won’t hear any “thee’s” or “thou’s,” but the rationale behind Lastoria’s brainchild, &Pizza, doesn’t abound in the usual chain lingo. The company’s workforce is “the tribe,” a group whose members are known to tattoo themselves with the ampersand to show solidarity with the brand. ... Managers are “shop...

By Will Ashworth
The Motley Fool, July 31, 2017

... A living wage is good business

The idea of a living wage is not going away. We were not returning to the beginning of the industrial revolution when child labour was a common practice.

Loblaw is not a small business. It’s a giant food conglomerate controlled by one of Canada’s richest families. I doubt any of the Westons have trouble paying for their grocery bills at Loblaw, but many in-store employees probably do.

Putting more money in the hands of its lowest-paid workers will add revenue...

Op-Ed By John Traynor
Scranton Times Tribune, July 30, 2017

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is stuck in the past and that’s bad for business. Set at $7.25 an hour since 2009, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is lower than all six of our neighboring states.

Our state minimum wage, which amounts to just $15,080 a year for full-time work, is a drag on Pennsylvania’s customer base, tax base and economy.

I own the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, a multi-venue arts and entertainment complex, which includes the Kitchen & Gallery Bar, a 150-seat restaurant. We won the 2016 tourism...

Op-Ed By Greg Kelly
State Journal Register, July 28, 2017

In a recent online article from WCIA-TV titled “Rauner pays new staff lucrative salaries,” the governor said Illinois citizens “owe” his highly-paid staff “a debt of gratitude.” He’s dead wrong. Gov. Bruce Rauner owes our families a $15 minimum wage. ...

Our workers aren’t the only ones speaking out for a $15 minimum wage in Illinois — so are small business owners. Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, CEO of Addison’s Earth Friendly Products, pays her workers at least $17 an hour. Since raising the pay rate, turnover in...

Op-Ed By Chris Lu
As the Deputy Secretary of Labor, I saw not only how higher wages lifted up the lives of working-class Americans but also how employers thrived when they paid higher wages. ...

By Elizabeth Crips
The Advocate (Baton Rouge), July 23, 2017. Also in Daily Comet, Houma Courier.

Kenya Harris recalls taking the city bus from classes at Baton Rouge Community College to her minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant off Sherwood Forest across town — changing into her uniform in the restaurant's bathroom each day. ... With two young children at home, Harris quit college and was working two jobs, as a telemarketer in the day and again in fast food in the evenings. "It crippled me as far as time away from my kids,"...

By Cameron Niblock
San Angelo Live, July 22, 2017

U.S. – Business owners across the nation are coming together in support of increasing the federal minimum wage in the U.S.

July 24 will mark eight years since the federal minimum wage was last increased, according to the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25, which is worth less than it was in 1950, adjusted for the cost of living.

Business owners and executives across the country are speaking out in support of raising the minimum wage to strengthen businesses...

By Jim Randle
Voice of America, July 20, 2017

WASHINGTON — A study by the Economic Policy Institute says the chief executive officers of America's largest firms were paid an average of $15.6 million each in 2016.

In a report published Thursday, authors Lawrence Mischel and Jessica Schieder say that amount is 271 times as much as a "typical" worker's earnings at those same corporations. That ... is still "light years" higher than the 20-to-1 gap between workers and bosses in 1965, or the 59-to-1 difference that was measured in 1989. ...

At the other end...

By Charisse Jones and Kellie Ell
USA TODAY, July 14, 2017

After her state's minimum wage rose in January to $9 from $7.50 an hour, Kathy Rondone got an extra $20 a week in her paycheck. "To me that's not coffee money or spare change,'' says Rondone, an administrative assistant who lives in Augusta, Maine. "It is a set of windshield wipers when mine broke in a storm last February. ... It's a really big deal.'' 

Working Americans still looking for a raise should look to their state and local governments for help. As the nation heads into a...