By Tyler Arnold
The Center Square, Dec 28, 2021. Also The Central Virginian, Washington Examiner, Inside Nova, Johnson City Press (TN), Eastern Progress (KY), and other outlets.
Virginia’s minimum wage will increase to $11 per hour in less than a week, which is getting some mixed reactions from members of the commonwealth’s business community. ...
One organization called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is embracing the higher wage. The group’s CEO, Holly Sklar, released a statement in which she said low minimum wages hurt workers who can’t afford basics and hurt businesses that count on people having money to spend. Michael Lastoria, the CEO of &pizza and member of the group, said higher wages show workers they are valued.
“Since the start of the pandemic, &pizza has opened 20 new locations [nationally] and we are planning to open 40 more in the next 12 months or so,” Lastoria said in a statement. “Our focus has always been on providing quality jobs and higher wages is the single clearest way to say to our workforce, ‘We value you.’ All of our work counts for nothing if our people cannot live on the wages we pay them.”
The restaurant has five locations in Virginia, all of which are in the Washington, D.C. metro area. ...