By Meg Bantle
The Valley Advocate, Jan 2, 2018
... For labor activists, 2018 could be the year they get a measure for a $15 minimum wage before Massachusetts voters, which would mean the state would join California and New York, which have already passed $15 minimum wage legislation. ...
Some business owners in the Pioneer Valley and beyond support the minimum wage increase and have already started to make adjustments internally to afford the added cost.
At Real Pickles in Greenfield, Founder and General Manager Dan Rosenberg said that their starting wage is currently around $13 an hour. To get there, the management team met a few years ago to reassess their wages and benefits and decided to make a plan to steadily increase both. He said that they have plans to reach $15 an hour, but that they would welcome to push from the state.
“It’s about the moral compass,” Rosenberg said. “People need to get paid a livable wage.” ...
For Rosenberg, the Real Pickles general manager, paying for wage and benefit increases involves continuing to grow as a company and carefully increasing prices over time, but he said that it’s worth it for worker retention and satisfaction.
“As we’ve grown our wage and benefits we’ve seen higher job satisfaction,” he said. “Staff feel better treated, they’re doing more high quality work, and they feel more invested in their work.”
Copyright 2018 The Valley Advocate