By Bruce Alpert
Times-Picayune, January 15, 2015

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama made the case for mandatory paid sick leave for most employees by recounting his luncheon conversation Thursday with three women, including the operator of a Baltimore, Md., coffee shop and a school nurse. The president met the women over lunch at Baltimore's Charmington's coffee shop and cafe, including Amanda Rothchild, co-owner and managing partner of Charmington's and Mary Stein, a mother of two and a school nurse.

Rothchild, the president said, provides her employees with paid sick leave, and pays them more than the...

By Ed Mahon
York Daily Record (PA), Jan 15, 2015

Tom Wolf, who was elected governor in November, wants to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania. Here are five things to know about the issue.

1. Pennsylvania's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

That's the same rate as the federal minimum wage. Nationwide, 29 states have a minimum wage above the federal level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

2. Wolf says raising the minimum wage would create jobs.

Wolf's "Fresh Start" policy plan, released in February 2014, says raising the minimum wage to...

Editorial
Independent Newspapers (Northeast Independent, South County Independent, RI), January 8, 2015

As of Jan. 1, the state’s minimum wage is $9 per hour, up from $8. Rhode Island joined 20 other states in boosting the minimum wage for workers at the bottom, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. It’s worth noting the federal minimum wage is just $7.25 per hour.

At $7.25 per hour, a 40-hour-per-week employee’s gross income totals about $15,000 per year; at $9 per hour, the gross total is $18,720 annually. Those working minimum-wage jobs in Rhode Island – service sector positions...

By Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center
BCTV (Berks County, PA) January 7, 2015

Here's our suggestion for a New Year's Resolution PA lawmakers should make along with losing weight and spending more time with the family: increasing the Pennsylvania minimum wage. As detailed in our end-of year press release, 20 states and the District of Columbia will raise their minimum wages tomorrow but Pennsylvania will not.

We documented in the 2014 State of Working Pennsylvania (SWPA), there is a desperate need for a minimum-wage increase. As of 2013, nearly one in five...

By J.D. Harrison
Washington Post, January 5, 2015

Maryland’s minimum wage was one of many that increased at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, in the first of a series of raises that will eventually push the state’s pay floor above $10 an hour. Under legislation approved last summer, Maryland’s minimum hourly rate increased from $7.25 to $8.00 on the first of the year, and it will increase again to $8.25 in July. The minimum will tick up several more times over the next three years, reaching $10.10 in 2018.

One of the...

By Sarah Ruppenthal
Maui News, Jan 3, 2015

For an estimated 37,000 workers across the state, 2015 brings new change - 50 cents to be exact - as Hawaii's minimum wage increased from $7.25 to $7.75 per hour on New Year's Day. And that's just the first step in an incremental, four-step wage increase signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in May. Hawaii is now inching toward a $10.10 hourly minimum wage, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2018. In the interim, the state's minimum wage is scheduled to increase to $8.50 an hour...

By J.D. Harrison
Washington Post, January 2, 2015

... On Small Business asked entrepreneurs and small employers from around the country to share with us the one headline they would most like to see coming out of the nation’s capital this year, be it from Congress, the White House, the Small Business Administration, or any other corner of Washington. Here’s what they had to say. ...

Paul Saginaw, co-owner and founding partner at Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, which runs a delicatessen, restaurant, creamery, and several other ventures in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Headline: Congress amends constitution...

By Christine Kern
Hospitality Leader, Jan 2, 2015

Will wage hike have a detrimental effect on restaurant owners?

The minimum wage is set to get a boost in 21 states during 2015, in large part due to the national movement to boost the earnings of low-paid workers, according to CNBC News. ...

But while many restaurant owners worry about how they will cover the added expenses driven by the wage hikes, not all are opposed to the change.

One restaurant owner has written in favor of the minimum wage hike. In a blog post...

KRWG TV/FM, NPR Public Media for Southwestern New Mexico and Far West Texas, Jan 1, 2015

Las Cruces starts the new year with a new minimum wage.  The wage increases by 90 cents today...going from the state-mandated $7.50 an hour to $8.40.  It’s the first of three planned increases, which should result in a $10.10 minimum wage in 2019. ...

In a column that appeared this week in the Las Cruces Sun News and in newspapers nationwide, Chris Sommers wrote about his experience increasing his lowest paid employees to $10.10 an hour last spring.  The...

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, Dec 31, 2014

Hourly wage workers around the country are cheering hikes in their pay this new year, with 21 states raising the wage in 2015 after moves by state legislatures and voter approval during midterm elections. Some of the pay increases in the new year also reflect annual cost of living increases by individual states. ...

More action on wage increases is expected in states and cities, and the new Congress will likely take up the issue in 2015, says Holly Sklar, chief executive of Business for a Fair Minimum...

By Maria Altman
St. Louis Public Radio, Dec 30, 2014

Missouri’s minimum wage will go up 15 cents as of New Year’s Day.

The increase from the current $7.50 to $7.65 is the result of a 2006 ballot referendum tying the state’s minimum wage to the Midwest Consumer Price Index. It’s the second 15 cent increase in as many years.

The Missouri Retailers Association lobbied against the initiative eight years ago. ...

Yet some business owners see a minimum wage hike as good for their businesses and good for the economy. Lew Prince, the co-owner...

Op-Ed By Chris Sommers, Co-Owner of Pi Pizzerias
St. Louis Post Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Albany Times Union, San Antonio Express News, more

As a restaurant owner operating in four states and looking to expand, I’m happy to see the minimum wage going up in 21 states to kick off the new year. I’d like to see the federal minimum wage increase as well to benefit business and our economy nationwide. ...

By Kelly Moffitt
St. Louis Business Journal, Dec 26, 2014

St. Louis has some burning questions, not the least of which being "Provel or no Provel?" This year, Business Journal readers attempted to answer this question once and for all as well determine the best pizza and craft beer in St. Louis. For the record, 61 percent of readers said they'd choose Provel over no Provel. And with more than 10,000 votes, the title of best pizza in St. Louis went to Pi Pizzeria and that of best beer went to Griesedieck Brothers. ... Pi...

By Sabrina Korber    
Dec 24, 2014

In the final hours to fulfill your holiday gift lists you might think consumers aren't focused on being socially responsible in their shopping, but you'd be wrong. Consumers say they're increasingly searching for ways to shop—and give—that reflect their values, whether that means buying local, seeking out products with sustainable packaging or donating to a good cause.

While many say consumers are just paying lip service to good intentions, 55 percent of consumers surveyed across the globe say they will pay extra for products and services from companies...

By Vladislav Kachka
Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report, December 23, 2014

Minimum wage roundup citing Business for a Fair Minimum Wage CEO Holly Sklar, hardware store owner Gina Schaefer and South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Frank Knapp.

Lack of action by federal lawmakers on increasing the minimum wage is causing state legislatures and even some city councils to tackle the issues. Ballot initiatives are being used to effect change in states and cities where elected officials have not embraced the issue. ...

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Reproduced with permission...