Op-Ed By Andrew Buerger, Founder, B'More Organic
As our company name, B’More Organic, will tell you, we’re invested in Baltimore’s success. That’s why I recently took time to testify before the Baltimore City Council in favor of gradually raising our city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. ...
Op-Ed By Pierce Powers, Owner, Lona's Lil Eats
My wife and I own a local restaurant, and we are very pleased that the Missouri Supreme Court ruling means that the city of St. Louis can finally implement the minimum wage increases passed in 2015. Raising the minimum wage is good business and good ethics. ...
By Dan Menefee
Maryland Reporter, March 7, 2017
The fight for a $15 minimum wage went before the House Economic Matters Committee on Tuesday — and not all businesses are opposed to this national push for higher pay. ...
By Sarah Polus
Washington Post, March 7, 2017
Muriel Bowser’s talents go beyond politics — on Monday night, the Washington mayor showed she can also mix up a mean cocktail. Developers Jim and Mai Abdo threw a party to celebrate the opening of their new Foggy Bottom micro-hotel, Hotel Hive, and a neighboring new location of &pizza. ...
And it was a thank you to &pizza. The D.C.-based pizzeria helped push Bowser’s fair-wage bill, which raised the District’s minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2016. ...
By Luke Broadwater
The Baltimore Sun, March 6, 2017
Baltimore's City Council, pushed by a group of freshmen members seeking dramatic changes, gave preliminary approval Monday to a bill to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. ..."Today is a day I've waited for a long time," Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said after the 12-3 vote. ...
But some area businesses backed the idea. Josh Keogh, the co-owner of Baltimore Bicycle Works, called paying a "fair wage" a "great investment" for his company.
"Gradually raising the minimum wage to $15 will give customers more...
By Stephen Loiaconi
Sinclair Broadcasting Group, March 3, 2017
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — ... The Baltimore City Council advanced a bill this week that would raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022. It could get a vote by the full council next week. ... One group supporting the Baltimore measure is Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a network of business owners and executives who say higher wages lead to lower employee turnover, higher productivity and more customer satisfaction. ...
Holly Sklar, the organization’s CEO, said the experience of communities that have raised their minimum wages does not bear out predictions of job losses and shuttered storefronts.
By Sam Harnett
Marketplace, February 17, 2017
CEO Bill Phelps says his thoughts on minimum wage have evolved. In 1994, Phelps co-founded the fast food chain Wetzel’s Pretzels, which has almost a hundred outlets in California. ...
The state increased the minimum wage in mid-2014 and raised it again Jan. 1 on its path to reach $15 per hour by 2022.
Phelps worried increasing wages for his employees would cut into profits and that if he raised prices to compensate, fewer people would come eat and sales would drop. But something else happened entirely. Sales at his California stores...
Op-Ed By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage
Businesses depend on customers who can afford to buy what they are selling. When millions of workers can’t make ends meet because their wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living, it hurts business and it hurts the economy. ... A higher minimum wage makes good economic sense in other ways too. ...
By Matthew Steecker
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Feb. 16, 2017
... The minimum wage is currently set at $9.70 in Upstate New York. In New York City, minimum wage is currently at $11 for employees of businesses with 11 or more employees and $10.50 for businesses with 10 or less employees. The minimum wage for workers in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties is $10. The minimum wage will reach $15 at the end of 2018 for employees of New York City businesses with 11 or more employees, the end of 2019 for employees of New York City...
When working people make more money, they spend that money—and businesses hire more working people to meet increased demand
By Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City
The Daily Beast, February 15, 2017
Families across America are struggling to make ends meet. Many workers cannot survive without two or even three jobs. Meanwhile, CEOs are taking home sickening amounts of money. It’s happening all over, but if you want especially egregious examples, look no further than the fast-food industry.
That’s why all of us should be deeply disturbed by President Trump’s choice for secretary of...
By Matthew Steecker
Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, Feb. 10, 2017
... The minimum wage is currently set at $9.70 in Upstate New York. In New York City, minimum wage is currently at $11 for employees of businesses with 11 or more employees and $10.50 for businesses with 10 or less employees. The minimum wage for workers in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties is $10. The minimum wage will reach $15 at the end of 2018 for employees of New York City businesses with 11 or more employees, the end of 2019 for employees of New York...
By Matt Maisel
Fox 43 (PA), January 24, 2017
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Fighting to raise the minimum wage [currently $7.25] is a battle state representative Patty Kim has lost for the last few years. ... With new leadership in 2017, Rep. Kim is hoping this legislative session brings an open look into bringing Pennsylvania's first wage hike since 2009. ...
Pennsylvania started the process of raising the minimum wage in 2016, when Governor Tom Wolf raised the minimum wage to $10.15 for state employees and state-contracted workers. When that happened, John Traynor, the owner of...
By Sam Harnett
KQED, January 13, 2017
Are minimum wage increases good for the economy on the whole or bad? ...
A new study by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment crunches the numbers for a bunch of these factors to try to predict the impacts of California’s rising minimum wage, which will gradually increase to $15 per hour over the next six years. The study’s authors came to two major conclusions: The state’s higher wages will lead to large increases in pay for workers, and they will not result in major job losses...
Op-Ed By Todd Gloria
San Diego Union Tribune, Jan 12, 2017
... Almost two-thirds of San Diego voters supported a minimum-wage increase. And, more than 250,000 of our fellow San Diegans received a boost in pay.
This decision by the voters demonstrated a recognition that decent wages foster stronger community and economy. Further, this decision publicly documented — by virtue of the ballot box — the overwhelming majority belief that no person who works full time should be forced to live in poverty. So, if any mandate was levied, it came from the residents of...
By Erik Sherman
Forbes, Jan 7, 2017
Someone I know had posted a link about a fast food CEO who said that higher business growth followed minimum wage hikes in California. According to KQED, Bill Phelps, chief executive of Wetzel’s Pretzels, which has more than 100 outlets in the state, was "shocked" when business rose after a wage increase.
"My overall sales were something like 15 percent ahead after the first minimum wage bump, and now they’re about 12 percent ahead this year," [Franchisee] Jacobs said. "It isn’t because I’m such a great manager or smart guy, but the buying public has more money in their pocket."