By Anne Geggis
Florida Politics, Sep 30, 2021

Minimum wage workers are getting a 15% raise Thursday when Amendment 2 begins taking effect. ...

Richard Nesbit, the owner of Alta Systems in Gainesville, a communications business, said he believes that fairly paid workers make better workers.

“As a company already paying a $15 minimum wage, we know it’s important our employees are able to focus on work without being constantly stressed about making ends meet,” he told Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a network of businesses advocating for higher pay. “Raising Florida’s...

By Issac Morgan
Florida Phoenix, Sep 29, 2021

Workers in Florida earning minimum wage will see a significant bump in pay on Thursday – from $8.65 to $10 an hour – the first phase of a wage hike connected to a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2020. ...

Danielle Ferrari is the owner of a clothing store called Valhalla Resale in Tampa. As a small business owner, Ferrari told the Florida Phoenix in a phone conversation that the wage increase will “stimulate our community.”

“As a small business owner, I am super excited,” she...

By Cooper Levey-Baker
Sarasota Magazine, Sep 29, 2021

Hundreds of thousands of minimum wage workers in Florida—more than 600,000 of them, in fact—will see a boost in their paychecks starting Thursday, Sept. 30, when the first in a series of increases to the state’s minimum wage takes effect. ...

The increase is thanks to the approval of Amendment 2 by 60.8 percent of Florida voters in last fall’s general election. The amendment was championed by low-wage workers, unions, labor activists, business owners and the influential attorney John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan.

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By McKenna Schueler
Tampa Bay Creative Loafing, Sep 28, 2021

After becoming the first state in the South to get on track toward a $15 minimum wage last year, Florida’s gearing up for its biggest minimum wage increase in over a decade.

Effective Sept. 30, Florida’s minimum wage will rise from its current $8.65 per hour to $10 an hour, or $6.98 plus tips for tipped employees. ... According to the nonpartisan Florida Policy Institute, an estimated 646,000 working Floridians will see their wages rise starting Thursday. By 2026, that number is expected to reach 2.5 million...

By Zahra Tayeb
Business Insider, Sep 18, 2021

A dire labor shortage has left many business owners across the US struggling to find workers. But not the CEO of Bluestone Lane, a cafe chain with branches across the country, who has made hundreds of hires in the last eight months. 

Nick Stone told Insider that he hasn't experienced many issues bringing back team members and hiring new ones for the chain's 51 locations. He said he recruited 400 new employees since February 2021. ...

Stone pays his employees $15 an hour nationally and $22 an hour to...

By Mike Winikoff
Hometown News, Sep 16, 2021

STATEWIDE - Florida’s hourly minimum wage for non-tipped employees will increase from $8.65 to $10 on Sept. 30. In 2020, Florida voters passed Amendment 2 with 61% of the vote. Amendment 2 gradually increases the state minimum wage to $15 in 2026. ...

Chairman Emeritus Roger Smith of the American Income Life Insurance Company... is a Treasure Coast businessperson who fully supports the increase, and not only for the workers themselves. Mr. Smith thinks raising the minimum wage will benefit businesses and the economy.

Hometown News was referred to...

By Hayden Mitman
WLVR/NPR, Aug 27, 2021

... Gov. Tom Wolf has called for an increase as all six states that border the commonwealth offer higher minimum wages. ...

John Schall, owner of the authentic Mexican restaurant in Bethlehem [El Jefe’s Taqueria], credited much of his success to the fact that he pays his employees a living wage. 

“It’s just part of being a decent human being. It’s also a crucial part of a successful business model,” he said. “There are restaurants now that aren’t open because they say they can’t find staff. I haven’t closed for an hour because...

By Pamela Sroka-Holzmann
Lehigh Valley Live, Aug 26, 2021

El Jefe’s Taqueria owner John Schall doesn’t have a significant staff shortage at his South Bethlehem eatery and has grown his chain of Mexican restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic.

He says the “low wage, high turnover” model is what likely has led to other area businesses being forced to reduce hours or close shop all together. ...

Paying more than the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 ... is something Schall says he’s done from the get-go at his East Third Street location. He opened the regional site as his second...

By Christopher Rugaber
Associated Press (AP), July 27, 2021

... It is hardly the official federal minimum wage — at $7.25, that level hasn’t been raised since 2009 — but for many lower-skilled workers, $15 an hour has increasingly become a reality. ...

The beneficiaries are people like Maggie Himmel, who started working at the Flowers for Dreams flower shop in Milwaukee last fall for $12.50 an hour. In January, the company raised its minimum wage to $15.

The higher pay allowed Himmel, 22, to move into her own apartment after sharing living space with her...

Op-Ed By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage

... The minimum wage has become a poverty wage instead of an anti-poverty wage. That hurts workers who can’t afford the basics, and it hurts businesses that count on customers with money to spend. ...