Skip to main content

Boston Globe: US Labor secretary focusing on income inequality (Roundtable w business owners)

By Megan Woolhouse and Frank Olito
Boston Globe, March 14, 2014

... “Too many people are working hard and falling further behind,” said [US Labor Secretary Thomas E.] Perez in an interview with Boston Globe editors and reporters this week.

Perez was in Boston Wednesday and Thursday as part of a national, campaign-style tour to promote Obama’s proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25 an hour. He met Thursday in Cambridge with [eight] small business owners who told him that they already pay more than minimum wage — up to $14 an hour —...

Boston Herald: Massachusetts minimum pay may be $10.50 by ’16

By Jordan Graham, Matt Stout
Boston Herald, March 14, 2014

A proposal unveiled by House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo yesterday to raise the minimum wage to $10.50 per hour by 2016 reignited a debate among business owners and leaders, with some saying government shouldn’t be setting the standard for employee pay.

“We don’t think it’s the role of government to push up the minimum wage,” said Chris Geehern, a spokesman for Associated Industries of Massachusetts, one of the state’s largest business groups. ...

But Paul Guzzi, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce president, said DeLeo has...

Natural Foods Merchandiser: Natural retailer shares minimum wage hike support with U.S. labor secretary

By Christine Kapperman
Natural Foods Merchandizer, March 14, 2014

Paying a living wage is good business, says independent natural retailer Michael Kanter, who played host to U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and other Cambridge, Mass.-area businesspeople Thursday. Perez visited Cambridge Naturals as part of a two-day, Boston-area tour to advance President Obama's idea to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 an hour. ...

Read more

 

Boston Globe: US Labor secretary urges higher minimum wage (meeting with business owners)

By Frank Olito
Boston Globe, March 13, 2014

CAMBRIDGE—US Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez on Thursday met with local business owners to further urge Congress to increase the federal minimum wage, arguing it would help companies attract and retain workers, and lead to greater productivity. ...

Perez spoke with [eight] local business owners who pay their workers more than minimum wages. They included the owners of Cambridge Naturals, Michael Kanter and Elizabeth Stagl, who pay their employees $11-$15 an hour.

In a roundtable discussion, the business owners told Perez that paying higher wages not only helps...

US DOL Newsletter: Small Business Owners Say Raise the Wage

US Department of Labor Newsletter, March 13, 2014

The referenced media source is missing and needs to be re-embedded.

... At health and wellness store Cambridge Naturals outside of Boston, on March 13, Secretary Perez attended a gathering of small business owners who are weighing in on the need to raise the wage, saying that more money in the hands of workers is good for their bottom lines and the economy as a whole. A higher entry-level wage reduces turnover and improves workers' attitudes and performance, which results in happier customers and better business, they told the secretary. "Every dollar we can invest in somebody comes...

WYPR (MD): Governor, Business Owners Tout Minimum Wage Hike

WYPR/ NPR News Station, Baltimore, March 7, 2014

Gov. Martin O’Malley met with small business owners yesterday at Linemark, a printing company in Upper Marlboro. He was there to tout his plan to raise the state’s minimum wage and talk with business owners from around the state. Linemark and the rest of the companies represented at the event pay their workers above the state’s minimum wage.

WYPR’s Christopher Connelly sat down with the governor afterward to talk about the minimum wage, which the House of Delegates will give its final vote on the measure later today...

Capital News Service: O'Malley meets with business owners who back minimum wage increase

By Megan Brockett
Capital News Service, Maryland, March 6, 2014

UPPER MARLBORO — A day after House Republicans unsuccessfully pushed to amend Gov. Martin O’Malley’s minimum wage bill to provide greater protections for businesses, O’Malley touted the plan Thursday before a group of business owners who support an increase of the state’s minimum wage. ...

Sitting around a conference table at Linemark printers, O’Malley and about a dozen business people from across the state discussed how a hike would benefit companies of all sizes by boosting the economy and reducing turnover costs for companies....

Washington Post: O’Malley says he’ll seek to restore inflation provision to his minimum-wage legislation

By John Wagner
Washington Post, March 6, 2014

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) said Thursday that he is disappointed that the House of Delegates dropped a provision from his minimum-wage bill that called for automatic increases based on inflation and said he will lobby the Senate to restore it. O’Malley’s bill, which faces a final vote in the House on Friday, would gradually raise Maryland’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 by 2017. The provision struck by the House would have made additional increases automatic after that. ...

His comments came during a broader roundtable...

Governor O’Malley Joins Business Owners to Tout Benefits of Raising Maryland’s Minimum Wage

Office of Governor Martin O'Malley, Release, March 6, 2014

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor O’Malley today toured the Linemark printing plant in Upper Marlboro, Md. and joined a group of business owners for a roundtable discussion to show their support for increasing Maryland’s minimum wage.

Governor O’Malley, as a part of his administration’s ongoing efforts to strengthen and grow Maryland’s middle class, has proposed raising the minimum wage as one of his top priorities for the 2014 legislative session. On Monday, his proposal continued to advance through the General Assembly with a favorable vote from the Economic Matters...

CNBC: What the minimum wage fight says about the economy

By Heesun Wee, Editor, CNBC.com
CNBC, Feb 28, 2014

... The wage fight is vocal and contentious as ever. ...

A case for higher pay

Of course not everyone in the food business opposes higher wages. Proponents include executives at Zingerman's, a delicatessen and food business in Ann Arbor, Mich. The original deli opened about 30 years ago and has since expanded to eight related businesses, employing a permanent staff of more than 600 workers.

Zingerman's has driven sales by investing in employees through subsidized health care and above average wages. "We invest heavily in our staff with...

New York Times Editorial: Business and the Minimum Wage

New York Times Editorial, Feb 27, 2014

Much of the discussion about the Democratic proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016 has rightly focused on the workers who will clearly benefit from the move. But what about businesses? How would higher wages affect them?

The answer — contrary to a great deal of reflexive hand-wringing by some conservative think tanks and politicians — is surprisingly positive. Scholarly studies and the experience of businesses themselves show that what companies lose when they pay more is often offset by lower turnover and...

Connecticut Post: DeLauro, Democrats press for wage vote [quoting biz owners]

By Will Brown
Connecticut Post, Feb 26, 2014. Stamford Advocate, Danbury News Times, Greenwich Time

... Wednesday afternoon, DeLauro, Pelosi and other backers announced they are using a discharge petition to try to pry the minimum-wage increase out of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, where it has languished for nearly a year. ... Such a petition requires a majority vote of the House to successfully move the bill from the committee to the floor. ...

Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.), who filed the petition, said, "That's all we're asking for -- the opportunity to vote on...

Pelosi Remarks at Press Event Announcing Effort to Force Vote on Minimum Wage Increase

Press Release, Feb 26, 2014

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, and Members of Congress held a press event today to announce a discharge petition on the minimum wage.  Leader Pelosi and House Democratic Members were joined by business owners and advocates who called on Congress to pass H.R. 1010, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, and #RaiseTheWage to $10.10 for millions of Americans.  Below are the Leader’s remarks:

“On behalf of my colleagues behind me and across the aisle here, I want to thank...