Nightly Business Report produced by CNBC, Transcript, July 22, 2016

KATE ROGERS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. federal minimum wage was hiked from $6.55 and hour to $7.25 nearly seven years ago, and that`s where it remained ever since. And while that debate has flatlined, the debate over wages has intensified. ... Despite periodic increases, the buying of the federal minimum wage hasn`t kept up with inflation, according to the Bureau [of] Labor Statistics. Data show that in 1968, the federal minimum was equivalent to $10.90 in 2015 dollars, nearly $4 higher than today`s rate.

For...

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, July 21, 2016

Nearly seven years after the federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 an hour from $6.55, it has remained stagnant despite the increasingly heated debate over better pay and worker protections.

But that hasn't stopped Ken Weinstein from paying his workers more at his two restaurants in Pennsylvania, where the state minimum wage matches the federal floor.

Weinstein owns two Trolley Car Diners in Philadelphia, and decided two years ago to increase the minimum wage for his 75 employees to $8.50.

"It's a competitive thing — you certainly...

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, July 21, 2016

With the federal minimum wage stagnant at $7.25 for the past seven years, a debate has emerged over better worker protections and pay. Kate Rogers reports on what momentum for a higher wage means for Main Street.

WATCH VIDEO

By Leslie T. Snadowsky
Biz New Orleans, July 21, 2016

Angela O'Byrne is the President of New Orleans-based Perez, APC, a 100% woman and minority owned multidisciplinary firm providing a full range of in-house services including architecture, design-build, construction, landscape architecture, planning, interior design and real estate development. She is also the 2016 Louisiana Small Business Person of the Year and 1st runner up for 2016 National Small Business Person of the Year.

         O'Byrne believes the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour mires full-time workers in poverty and undermines consumer demand and economic...

By Paul R. La Monica
CNN Money, July 12, 2016

Sluggish wage growth has been one of the biggest problems for the U.S. economy during this slow recovery. Yes, fewer people are out of work. But their salaries were stagnant.

This week's announcements by Starbucks (SBUX) and JPMorgan Chase are another sign that the U.S. economy is still relatively strong, even if growth remains a bit lower than many would like. But JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, writing about the company's decision to raise its minimum wage for 18,000 workers in an op-ed for The New York Times Tuesday, said... "A pay increase is the...

By Morgan Eichensehr
Baltimore Business Journal, July 1, 2016

New laws go into effect Friday that will impact you at the pump and in your pocketbook. The state minimum wage is getting a 50-cent hike to $8.75. The scheduled increase is part of a law passed by Maryland legislators in 2014 to slowly raise the minimum from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour by July 2018.

Carmen Ortiz Larsen, president of AQUAS Inc. and chair of the Board of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County, said lower wages can undermine employee performance and retention, weaken...

By Milagros Meléndez-Vela
Washington Post, El Tiempo Lationo, June 29, 2016

Con todos los lentes enfocándola, la alcaldesa Muriel Bowser se puso los guantes de hule, tomó una plancha con la masa de pan para preparar pizza y colocó sobre ella la salsa roja, el queso, tomate, pepperoni, carne, chile y hojas de albahaca.

Minutos antes, el lunes 27 de junio, Bowser firmó la ley que aumenta el salario mínimo a $15 la hora, en forma escalonada hasta 2020. La alcaldesa estampó su rúbrica al aire libre en la Plaza Cívica de Columbia Heights, rodeada de concejales y...

By Rachel Sadon
DCist, June 28, 2016

... Shortly after creating the mayor's special at &pizza, [Mayor Muriel] Bowser signed the Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2016 with several D.C. councilmembers and labor groups at her side. ...

President Obama had this to say:

"I commend the District of Columbia, Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the Council of the District of Columbia for raising the District's minimum wage. Since my first call to raise the wage in 2013, 18 states and D.C. have taken action—action that will help over 7 million American workers. In addition, nearly...

Fox 5 DC, June 27, 2016

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has signed into law legislation that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Bowser signed the Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2016 outside of the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza in Northwest D.C. Monday evening alongside other city officials and members of the community.

This legislation will increase the hourly minimum wage to $15 for District workers by 2020. Currently, workers make $10.50 an hour and that rate will increase to $11.50 in July ...

Michael Lastoria, CEO of &pizza, a small local pizza chain, is also for...

Washington D.C. will have a $15 wage floor by 2020

By Dave Jamieson
Huffington Post, June 27, 2016

WASHINGTON — District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) signed legislation Monday that will gradually hike the city’s minimum wage to $15 ... At a signing ceremony at a D.C. pizzeria [&pizza], Bowser argued that cities should lead the way in raising the minimum wage, just as they have in recent years. ...

Liam Patrick, the company’s CFO, told HuffPost that &pizza, which has 15 locations in the area, campaigned for $15 because it already paid above minimum wage, and...

NJ Today, June 27, 2016

Devine Advertising Associates has become the [latest] New Jersey business to join a growing list of employers backing a federal minimum wage hike and signing Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.

“Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is a national network of business owners and executives who believe a fair minimum wage makes good business sense,” said James J. Devine, the ad agency proprietor. “Raising the minimum wage will bolster the economy, create a more stable, productive workforce and increase the consumer buying power businesses rely on to thrive and create jobs.”

“America...

By Isaiah J. Poole
Our Future Blog: June 27, 2016

While national pizza chains like Domino’s and Papa John’s have been targeted by Fight for 15 protests around the country because of their low wages and allegations of wage theft, a Washington, D.C.-based pizza entrepreneur has made his chain a champion of the $15-an-hour minimum wage. Michael Lastoria is the owner of the 15-store &pizza chain, and one of his shops will be the site Monday evening of a ceremonial signing of legislation that will increase the minimum wage in the District of Columbia to...

Nashville Post, June 24, 2016

Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, the founder and CEO of Nashville-based LetterLogic, has been honored at the White House for her efforts advocating for a fair pay business model.

A member of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, Deutschmann received a Champion of Change award, which honors people who have shown “extraordinary leadership on important issues impacting their communities and the nation.”

“Our entire business model was built on my belief that I could build a better company if I took extraordinary care of the employees,” Deutschmann said in a release.

Read more

By Jamie McGee
The Tennessean, June 23, 2016

Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, founder and CEO of Nashville company LetterLogic, has been named a White House Champion of Change for her leadership on fair pay issues and will be honored Thursday.

Deutschmann founded patient billing company LetterLogic in 2002 and has made valuing employees a cornerstone of her company from the start. Workers, many of whom operate machines in the company's Wedgewood-Houston facility, share profits, and wages start at $16 an hour, more than double the federal minimum wage.

“Our entire business model was built on my belief that I could build a better...