By Tom Post
Forbes, April 24, 2013

See published comments below by Business for a Fair Minimum Wage members

Two completely unrelated pieces of news hit me this morning and made me wonder about how we treat employees.

The first was the report of another horrific industrial accident in Bangladesh — nearly 200 people left dead in the collapse of an eight-story building where a number of garment factories operate. ...

The second piece of news was a poll by the Small Business Majority that landed in my inbox, claiming that better than two-thirds of...

By Sudheer Vatsavaya
ESB Journal, April 28, 2013

In contrast to their conventional portrayal, small business owners overwhelmingly favor increasing the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, according to a scientific national poll released today. The minimum wage was last increased in 2009.

Two out of three small business owners (67%) support increasing the federal minimum wage and adjusting it yearly to keep up with the cost of living. The strong support for a minimum wage raise is particularly striking since the small business owners are predominately Republican. The poll was conducted March 4-10...

MRI Network, April 25, 2013

A strong majority of small-business owners support raising the minimum wage, according to a March 2013 poll of independent entrepreneurs by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research on behalf of Small Business Majority.

This new report is contrary to the stance of sector advocacy group, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), which opposed an increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour. ...

The Small Business Majority poll revealed that 67 percent of respondents support increasing the federal minimum wage and adjusting it yearly to keep up with the cost of living...

By Tim Gallen
Phoenix Business Journal, April 24, 2013 

Contrary to the prevailing popular opinion, small businesses overwhelmingly favor an increase to the federal minimum wage because it will help boost business and the economy, according to a national poll released by Small Business Majority.

Two out of three small business owners support bumping the federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 and adjusting it annually to keep pace with the cost of living, the poll showed. Such results are striking, considering that respondents are employers themselves and predominantly Republican.

About 65 percent...

85% of small business owners pay all their employees more than the minimum wage

By C. Daniel Baker
Black Enterprise, April 24, 2013

A new national poll of small business owners revealed that 65% of small business owners agree that “increasing the minimum wage will help the economy.” The minimum wage was last increased to $7.25 an hour in 2009, and small business owners have often been portrayed as being against raising this amount.

The results of this survey are striking due to the fact that respondents predominately identified as Republican (46% identified themselves as...

By Matt Brownell
Daily Finance, April 9, 2013  

It's no secret that the retail sector depends on minimum-wage labor - when President Obama proposed raising the federal minimum wage in his State of the Union address, the National Retail Federation was one of the first groups to express its opposition. 

But as we noted at the time, not every retailer supports paying its employees the legal minimum. Last month Costco came out in favor of a higher minimum wage, noting that it pays its employees at least $11.50 an hour. And Costco (COST) isn't alone...

Op-Ed by Margot Dorfman, CEO, U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce
Distributed by American Forum. Known placements include Wisconsin State Journal, Scranton Times (PA), Juneau Empire, Madison Capital Times, Houston News group, New Jersey Today, St. Cloud Times (MN), Augusta Free Press (VA), Philadelphia Sun, many more

The migration of women from the workforce into business ownership is one of the great economic realizations of the American Dream. The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce has grown to more than 500,000 members. Most of our members are small-business owners. And we aren’t opposing an increase in the...

By C. Jeffrey Aaron
Gannett papers: Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, Ithaca Journal, Elmira Star Gazette, March 30, 2013

... Let me first say this: I don’t see anything wrong with adding extra money to the paychecks of those working for minimum wage, which in New York is $7.25 per hour. I’ve never had to support my family on those wages, but I know it’s got to be a struggle. Gas prices are high. So are food costs. And if putting a little extra something in the ol’ paycheck makes things easier then, by all means...

By Ted Hart and Denise Yost, Multimedia Content Manager
NBC4 Columbus, OH, March 28, 2013

WATCH VIDEO

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In 1973, the federal minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. The current minimum wage is at $7.25. If the minimum wage had been indexed to inflation, the rate would now be about $10.50.

But Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is campaigning to change that with the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013.

The legislation would: Raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from its current $7.25 in three steps of 95 cents and then provide for automatic annual increases linked...

By Joe Hallett
Columbus Dispatch, March 28, 2013 

Appearing today with workers at Dempsey's Restaurant, a popular Downtown eatery, Sen. Sherrod Brown campaigned for support for a bill that would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 over three years.

The Ohio Democrat is co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would increase the minimum hourly wage for the first time since 2007 -- and mean the first increase for tipped employees in 20 years.

Brown said that the federal minimum wage, and even Ohio's minimum wage which is 60-cents higher at $7.85...

In Mark Segebart's world, the minimum wage is a quaint notion, something along the lines of an allowance. Make your bed. Clean your room. Flip some burgers after school and you'll get $7.25 an hour, enough to take your best girl to the sock hop, with some spare change to double-straw a milkshake at Pokey's.

By Douglas Burns
Daily Times Herald, Iowa, March 28, 2013

The minimum wage, according to Segebart, a Republican state senator from Vail, just doesn't have any place in adult discussions, in the business of raising families and paying utility bills. No...

By Dan Eaton
Columbus Business First, March 28, 2013

... U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown made a stop in Columbus Thursday to promote the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which would raise the federal wage to $10.10 an hour for non-tipped employees and raise the wage for tipped employees for the first time since 1991. ...

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia already mandate a minimum wage above the federal limit of $7.25, while another 33 states and territories have wages for tipped employees above the $2.13 federal floor. Ohio’s minimum wage for non-tipped...

Maple Heights African American Gazette, March 28, 2013

At Brothers Printing in Cleveland this week, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown called for passage of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in three steps and provide the first minimum wage increase to tipped employees in more than 20 years. ...

Sen. Brown was joined by Brothers Printing owners Joe and Jay Kaufman, of Cleveland, and Synergistic Systems owner Carlynn Canny, of Willoughby Hills, who explained their reasons for supporting an increase in the Federal minimum wage...

Owner of Dempsey’s Restaurant Explains How Paying His Employees a Fair Wage Has Been Good for Business, Calls on His Competitors to do the Same

Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) Press Release, March 28, 2013

COLUMBUS, OH – Thousands of central Ohio workers would receive a raise under new legislation supported by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Workers and a local business owner joined Brown today in Columbus to call for passage of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in three steps and provide the...

Stevens Point City Times (WI), March 27, 2013

... Secretary of Labor Seth Harris ... will host a roundtable discussion on Wednesday in Milwaukee with low-wage workers and advocates, talking about the president’s plan to raise the minimum wage ...

Margot Dorfman, chief executive of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, supports an increase.

“Raising the minimum wage would increase the tax base and decrease the need for government relief,” she says. A good portion of her 500,000 members, about three-quarters of whom are female business owners, have worked hourly jobs at some point. “Oftentimes the women who...