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By Algis Laukaitis
Lincoln Journal Star, August 15, 2015

The owners of a small business in Lincoln will get a chance to sit down with U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez Monday and talk about the minimum wage.

Dave Titterington, who owns the Wild Bird Habitat Stores with his wife, Linda, said he was contacted about a week ago to meet with Perez, who will be in Omaha to promote policies to increase wages of working class Americans.

Nebraska voters approved a minimum wage increase last year. The state minimum wage increased from $7.25 an hour to $8 an hour on Jan. 1, and it will increase to $9 an hour in 2016.

During his visit, Perez plans to tour Omaha's Lozier Corp., a supporter of Nebraska's minimum wage increase, and participate in a roundtable discussion with local business leaders, elected officials and worker advocates, on how the recent increase in minimum wage has helped working families in Nebraska.

Later that day, Perez is set to meet the Titteringtons at New Line Coffee House in Omaha to talk about the positive effects of paying higher wages.

"We've always paid over minimum wage. It's always been beneficial to us because it keeps our employees," Dave Titterington said.

He said he started paying his staff more than the minimum wage in 1995, the year he started hiring. Now, he pays $9 to 12 per hour and supported the state's minimum wage initiative. ...

According to a report issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 47 million birders generated nearly $107 billion in trip and equipment-related expenditures in 2011. In addition, the total birding industry created 666,000 jobs, and $13 billion in local, state, and federal tax revenue. ...

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