By Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal, Nov 8, 2016
Colorado’s minimum wage is rising significantly once again. The state's voters on Tuesday approved Amendment 70, which would jump the floor wage for any non-tipped worker in the state from $8.31 per hour to $12 an hour in three steps by 2020. ...
Backers argued that the cost of living has outstripped the ability of minimum-wage workers to afford food, rent and medical care in Colorado and said that increasing their pay levels will boost all of the economy through increased spending of those workers. ...
“We showed a fair minimum wage is good for workers and for businesses. It’s good for Colorado," said Lizeth Chacon, co-chair of Colorado Families for a Fair Wage, which supported the measure.
A small cadre of small business owners said also that boosting the wages of staff will decrease turnover and increase productivity because workers will have enough money to buy medication when they are sick or take their cars to a mechanic when they are not working.
“I think it's great for people and a great thing for Colorado,” said Dan Shannon, owner of Gary’s Auto Service in Denver and a supporter of raising the minimum wage. "If you aren’t making a living wage, you can't spend it."
All of the workers at the car repair shop off Santa Fe Drive south of downtown make a good bit more than minimum wage, Shannon said. "And they should,” he said. “Without it, you can’t afford decent housing or the necessities of life.” ...
Copyright 2016 American City Business Journals