Colorado Public Radio, Sept 19, 2016

Ryan Warner: This is Colorado Matters from CPR News. I’m Ryan Warner. The minimum wage in Colorado would grow to $12 an hour in voters pass Amendment 70 this election. It is currently $8.31. Today a debate, the first of several you’ll hear of measures on the statewide ballot. Debra Brown is business manager for Colorado Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, which is in favor of raising the minimum wage, and Sonia Riggs is against the measure. She’s president of the Colorado Restaurant Association. ...

[Debra Brown]: There’s no question...

By Marianne LeVine and Cogan Schneir
Politico, Morning Shift, Sept 16, 2016

... BUSINESSES JOIN PUSH FOR MINIMUM WAGE HIKE: A group of manufacturers and retailers in the “natural products” industry are campaigning to increase the federal hourly minimum wage to $12 by 2020, up from the current $7.25. The Fair Pay Today Campaign — which includes soap brand Dr. Bronner’s, Organic India USA,and Seventh Generation, among others — will target consumers directly through product labels, in-store displays and social media. “Companies in the Fair Pay Today Campaign are creating the good jobs of the future...

By Aldo Svaldi
Denver Post, September 14, 2016

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez on Wednesday threw the Obama administration’s full support behind Colorado’s Amendment 70, which seeks to raise the state’s minimum wage from $8.31 an hour to $12 an hour by 2020.

“This is one where the nation is watching,” Perez told a round table of workers, business owners and nonprofit and union leaders gathered at Teatulia Tea Bar in Denver. “The President is with you. I am with you.”

Colorado, Arizona, Washington and Maine all have ballot measures to lift the state minimum wage. Perez expressed confidence they...

By Peter Stresinco
The Pueblo Chieftain, September 14, 2016

To raise the minimum wage in Colorado is not a job killer but a means for people to get off government services and is a question of human dignity, according to advocates promoting Amendment 70, a mandatory minimum wage increase that would reach $12 an hour by 2020 if voters agree in November. ...

Mike Hartkop, co-founder and owner of Solar Roast Coffee here, said that by offering higher than the minimum wage to his employees, $10 an hour, has greatly reduced his turnover and has...

Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal, Sept 14, 2016

For Colorado restaurant leaders, who are the primary funders of the campaign to defeat the minimum-wage hike on November’s ballot, a major sticking point in the proposed constitutional amendment is its provision raising the credit for tipped workers at the same monetary levels as it raises the ground-floor wage for statewide workers.

Though Colorado’s minimum wage is now $8.31 an hour, employees who receive tips as part of their jobs can get a lower base salary of $5.29 per hour with the expectation that the gratuities they...

By Eric Fink
KRDO News 13, Sept 13, 2016

COLORADO SPRINGS - Tracy du Charme owns Color Me Mine in the Chapel Hills Mall. She hopes voters will back Amendment 70, a measure this November that would vault Colorado's minimum wage by more than 40 percent.

"The one thing that's going to help a local shop like mine is a strong local economy and people earning minimum wage are going to spend that money locally," du Charme said.

Currently, Colorado's minimum wage is $8.31. If Amendment 70 passes, it would go up to $12 by 2020. ...

Read more

By Scott Kraus
The Morning Call, Sept 7, 2016

ALLENTOWN — Political debates over the minimum wage are nothing new. Gov. Tom Wolf has pushed recently for an increase, tweaking resistant Republican state lawmakers ... What is unusual is to have business leaders arguing publicly to hike the minimum wage, as the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce's Michelle Griffin Young did Tuesday before a meeting of the House Democratic Policy Committee in Allentown. ...

"Our membership agrees $7.25 is not a livable minimum wage," said Griffin Young, the Chamber's executive vice president for government and external affairs. "They...

By Lydia DePillis
Houston Chronicle, Sept 3, 2016

... This tale of two businesses captures the state of the U.S. labor market, where after a long period of stagnation, wages overall are beginning to rise, but the benefits of an improving economy continue to be distributed unevenly. ... Overall, the U.S. labor market has improved significantly over the past five years, as employers added more than 12 million jobs and the unemployment rate plunged from 9 percent to less than 5 percent. But as with much of the recovery that followed the worst recession in 70 years, the...

Op-Ed By Jerome Dodson, President, Parnassus
We’ve found that firms with ethical business practices, coupled with good products or services, quality management and sustainable competitive advantages offer the most attractive opportunities for investment. Companies that do right by their employees and their communities fare better.

Op-Ed By Angela O’Byrne, President, Perez APC; Louisiana Small Business Person of the Year
Building a successful business is not unlike building a physical structure. ... You have to start with a solid foundation. A business’s foundation is its employees. ...

Robert Cresanti, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association, calls the nationwide push for mandated minimum wages such as Colorado’s Initiative 101 an existential threat to the uniquely American and highly successful business model of franchising. ... But Bill Phelps, CEO of Wetzel’s Pretzels and an IFA member, counters that mandated minimum wage increases in California, where his company is based, have actually boosted business by giving employees more disposable income. ...
August 28, 2016

By Sean Forbes
Bloomberg BNA: Pension & Benefits Daily, August 15, 2016

Small business owners’ opinions about increasing minimum wages and offering attractive employee benefits aren’t as stereotypical as they might seem at first blush. John Swanciger, chief executive officer of Manta Media Inc., told Bloomberg BNA that based on recent surveys he’s conducted on minimum wages and employee benefits, small businesses should consider beefing up their benefits packages. ...

Chambers of Commerce. While the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other conservative groups have fought the Fight for $15 campaign to increase wages, some local chambers...

By Megan Schrader 
Colorado Springs Gazette, August 11, 2016

DENVER - Colorado voters will decide in November whether to bump the minimum wage from $8.31 to $9.30 an hour in 2017 and to $12 an hour by 2020.

A coalition of groups have poured $1 million into putting the proposed change to the Colorado Constitution on the ballot and Colorado Families for a Fair Wage learned Thursday that it had turned in enough valid signatures to put the question to voters. On the ballot it's likely to be Amendment 70.

"All the studies show that...

By Laurent Belsie
Christian Science Monitor, August 5, 2016

The big economic news Friday was that the United States economy added 255,000 new jobs in July, more than expected. But beyond the much-touted employment numbers was another development that offers at least a spark of hope for American workers: Wages are growing at their strongest annual pace in seven years, according the Labor Department figures.

The wage gains are still modest. Hourly earnings have risen 2.6 percent during the past year, faster than inflation but hardly robust growth. The question now is whether the report sets the stage...

Op-Ed By Bill Phelps, CEO, Wetzel’s Pretzels
... I’d like to give my business perspective and look at the real impact of minimum wage increases. ... Workers in California and other states are looking forward to consistent pay increases in the future. And I’m looking forward to continued growth for our business. ...