By Lorraine Woellert
Bloomberg News, Jan 24, 2014

... If you can’t win on the merits, change the messaging, says Leo Hindery, founder of InterMedia Partners LP, a private equity fund in New York. As Obama prepares for his next annual address on Tuesday, he should abandon the phrase “minimum wage” and instead press lawmakers to approve a higher “entry-level wage” that would allow all U.S. workers to afford basics such as food and shelter, Hindery says. ...

Hindery and other corporate execs made the case for a higher minimum at a meeting yesterday with Labor...

By Secretary of Labor Tom Perez
US Department of Labor, Work in Progress Blog, January 23, 2014

[US Labor Secretary holds roundtable with Business for a Fair Minimum Wage members]

... Today I had the chance to hear from twenty men and women who run businesses, including many who own small businesses. They’ll be directly affected by any increase in the minimum wage. I learned it’s not just workers who support a federal increase; What I heard from these business owners is that raising the wage would help their businesses, too, by putting more money...

By John D. Oravecz
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Jan. 21, 2014

... Businesses paying the minimum wage and their workers continue to be at the center of a longstanding debate. ...

... Other small business owners, such as Scott Smith at East End Brewery Co. in Larimer, are advocates for paying what they see as a fair wage. Smith has six fulltime and three parttime workers and produced 4,000 barrels of beer last year, up from 2,500 in 2012. “I have a hard time paying a pittance; that's disrespectful to our guys,” he said. “Our entry jobs...

District Chronicles (MD), Jan 20, 2014

ANNAPOLIS – Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown pledged to raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016 and index it to inflation thereafter at a rally before hundreds of minimum wage supporters as well as elected officials, faith leaders, low-wage workers and business owners in Annapolis. ...

National polls show that 67 percent of small business owners support increasing the federal minimum wage and adjusting it yearly to keep pace with the cost of living. The most rigorous studies of the impact of...

By Joyce M. Rosenberg
Associated Press (AP), Jan 15, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) ... The minimum wage will be debated across the country. In 2013, bills to raise the minimum wage were introduced in more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. Lawmakers in four states including California, Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island approved increases.

States where a minimum-wage hike has the best chance of approval include Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota ... according to Holly Sklar, director of the advocacy group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. But states whose neighbors have higher minimums may...

By Roz Plater
ABC 7/WJLA TV Maryland, Jan 14, 2014

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJLA) In Annapolis, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is kicking off a campaign to raise the statewide minimum wage. On Tuesday, advocates of the hike rallied lawmakers on their own turf in order to benefit workers like Cassandra King -- a single mom and hotel worker. "After I pay the rent...you have no money left over," she says. ...

"It's not a job killer, it doesn't hurt my business, it helps my business tremendously... I don't lose people because they found a better job...

By Timothy B. Wheeler
Baltimore Sun, January 14, 2014

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Tuesday that he will push for raising the minimum wage in Maryland to $10.10 an hour over the next two years, with automatic increases after that to keep pace with inflation. O'Malley appeared at an evening rally outside the State House, which drew hundreds of union members, clergy, business owners and others who support a higher minimum wage. ...

Raising the minimum wage is expected to be one of the most significant issues to be debated in Annapolis this legislative session. The...

Op-Ed By Dean Cycon
Taunton Daily Gazette, January 13. 2014

We've all heard the arguments against raising the minimum wage: It's bad for business and will result in higher unemployment.

I'm in the coffee business, and those arguments don't amount to a hill of beans.

Let's start with the idea that paying people more than the current minimum hourly wage of $8 in Massachusetts is bad for business. On the contrary. Most successful, thriving businesses, including mine, pay well above $8. The entry-level starting wage at Dean's Beans is $12 per hour. We raise employees...

By Jean Marbella
The Baltimore Sun, January 11, 2014

... Whether Maryland should raise its minimum wage above the current federal floor of $7.25 an hour is an issue that promises to dominate the legislative session that began last week in Annapolis — and have major implications for employers and employees alike. ...

Raise Maryland's proposal would gradually increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016, and would increase the rate for tipped workers to 70 percent of that. The group will hold a rally to launch its legislative battle on Tuesday on...

By Kelcie Pegher
Carroll County Times, January 5, 2014

Politicians in Maryland ready for the January legislative session are preparing for one fight in particular: the battle over whether to raise the minimum wage.

While the minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009, support is growing for a higher minimum wage. In Maryland, two counties voted to bring the minimum wage up to $11.50 per hour by 2017.
...

It’s easy to think of how difficult raising the minimum wage would be for one business, said Richard Torgerson, a registered principal for...