Testimony on House Bill 988 on Raising the Maryland Minimum Wage
Before House Economic Matters Committee, March 8, 2011

Brian England, Co-Owner, British American Auto Care, Columbia, MD

My name is Brian England. I am co-owner with my wife of British American Auto Care Inc. an auto service and repair facility in Columbia. We have been in business since 1978 and our company has won many awards, including Maryland Small Business of the Year. Last year, we were one of five companies that were awarded the 2010 Maryland Green Registry Leadership Award. We pay our employees a fair wage with benefits. We give them opportunities to grow. Some of our employees are training to become master automotive technicians; they are given a Maryland Apprenticeship, with raises every 6 months and a college education.

This bill is long over due. I would have hoped that all businesses would look after their employees better and given a fair wage with benefits. Alas, this is not the case. A glaring example of this is at a local Safeway store, where no one was serving at the Starbucks. I asked why this had been happening – “Oh staffing problems” was the reply. Well they pay them minimum wage and they stopped them taking tips! Most times people pay over $3 for a coffee at Starbucks; the least Safeway should do is to pay their employees a fair wage and benefits.

A lot of businesses that pay only the current minimum wage of $7.25 are just poor business people. If you give a good wage and benefits people work harder and are more productive. On top of this they stay with you for a long time. That’s a big reason we’ve won so many customer service awards.

Have you ever wondered why every time you visit a business the staff has changed? Well the chances are it is because they only pay an inadequate minimum wage.

Raising the minimum wage raises everyone one up. We should be moving people away from just surviving. We should be moving working Marylanders as far away from needing the social safety net as possible.

Polls show that the majority of Marylanders support raising the minimum wage.

This is the right thing to do, the ethical thing to do. I urge you to give a good report on this bill.

http://www.britishamericanauto.com/