By Carol Coultas
Portland Press Herald, May 10, 2016
The Legislature may have adjourned, but talk of the minimum wage endures. Voters will be asked on November’s ballot to endorse a measure to raise the state’s $7.50 minimum wage incrementally to $12 by 2020. That coupled with Portland’s recent hike of the minimum wage to $10.10 drew the interest of The Christian Science Monitor, which was in town to write about Maine’s minimum wage efforts. ...
On a national platform, at least one Mainer is stumping to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020. Margo Walsh, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2016 Small Business Person of the Year for Maine, runs MaineWorks LLC, a Portland staffing company that specializes in finding construction jobs for recently released inmates and others. She was among the hundreds of people who signed a letter from Business for a Fair Minimum Wage supporting the federal increase.
“The minimum wage is keeping workers stuck and struggling in poverty. Most policymakers have no idea how hard it really is,” Walsh said in a news release. “Raising the minimum wage to at least $12 is vital to making a living even possible. When employees are compensated fairly for their work, they’re more productive and our businesses, our customer base, our tax base and our communities are healthier.” ...
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