East CountyToday, March 23, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO – The national movement to raise low-wage workers’ income took its biggest step forward today when a ballot initiative to gradually increase California’s minimum wage to $15 by 2021 officially qualified for the Nov. 8 ballot. ... The California Secretary of State’s office certified that initiative organizers had collected the necessary 402,468 signatures to be immediately placed on the ballot.

The Fair Wage Act of 2016 would raise California’s minimum wage to $11 in 2017 and then gradually increase it a dollar a year until it reaches $15 in 2021. Once...

By Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News, March 18, 2016

... Until recently, talk about manufacturing on Long Island often focused on paradise lost and the past. ... Yet lately, “Made in the U.S.A.” is starting to make strides... While aviation subcontractors still dot the landscape, generic drug makers are going strong along with firms making everything from windows to surgical masks. ...

Jon Cooper, president of Westbury-based Spectronics, which makes products using ultraviolet light, said the region’s skilled workforce has helped his firm grow.

“It’s great knowing that when we expand, we can find fellow Long Islanders to fill the...

By Sam Janesch
Lancaster Online, March 16, 2016

... A few members of the Pennsylvania Working Families group and other activists rallied as part of a “statewide week of action” after Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order last week raising the minimum wage for state workers to $10.15. ... Among the ralliers was Lancaster Food Company CEO Charlie Crystle, whose nearly two-year-old startup has been recognized for its starting wage of $14 per hour.

Crystle said he supports the governor’s move and the push for $10.10 per hour — but that’s still too low.

“We built our model, and our...

Op-Ed By Charlie Crystle
Lancaster Online/LNP, March 13, 2016

Monday was an important day for Pennsylvania: Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order raising the minimum wage for state workers and state contractors’ workers to $10.15 per hour from $7.35 per hour. I was honored to attend the signing ceremony on behalf of thousands of business owners who believe employers should not pay poverty wages.

The move will improve the lives of 435 state employees immediately and substantially, as well as the employees of state contractors who get new state contracts. Unfortunately the order does not apply...

By Tom Starner
HR Dive, March 9, 2016 

... The battle over minimum wages pitting states against local municipalities has happened before, CBS reports. But then the federal Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 mandated setting hourly pay at $7.25 as of July 2009, and that remains today's mandated federal minimum wage.

"It's the revitalization of a trend. During that period when minimum wage was really stuck up to 2007, there was a big growth in living-wage ordinances," Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national network of companies that advocates for a minimum wage that's indexed to the...

By Kate Gibson
CBS Money Watch, March 8, 2016

... With federal efforts to increase pay for the lowest earners stalled by Republican opposition, a slew of states, cities and towns across the country have hiked the local base pay on their own. But other states are doing the opposite, in some cases passing laws prohibiting cities and towns from changing workers' pay and benefits on their own. ... Utah and Alabama are the latest examples of states either defeating measures to increase minimum pay or overriding local efforts to hike pay.

The push to raise...

By Jim Melwert
CBS Philly, March 8, 2016

BRYN MAWR, Pa., (CBS) —  One day after singing an executive order raising the minimum wage of about 450 state workers and [employees of state] contractors, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf stopped at a Bryn Mawr organic market, to urge support for a minimum wage hike for all workers in Pennsylvania.

General manager of MOM’s Organic Market  Gordon Schoff says, in 2014, MOM’s raised their minimum wage in all their stores to $11, calling it an investment that, he says, has paid for itself.

“In improved store moral, increased productivity, improved...

By Jason Scott
Lehigh Valley Business, March 8, 2016

... Wolf continues to push for legislation to expand the minimum wage across the entire commonwealth. An estimated 1.2 million people would be impacted, according to the governor. ... Wolf was joined at the news conference by several lawmakers, including Rep. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin), the lead sponsor of a bill to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.

John Traynor, owner of the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, and Charlie Crystle, co-founder and CEO of The Lancaster Food Co., also were in attendance to support the governor's call for statewide action...

Op-Ed By Keith Mestrich, President & CEO of Amalgamated Bank
Albany Times Union, March 7, 2016

Right now, despite many bank CEOs making tens of millions of dollars each year, the average bank teller makes just $25,800. Here in New York, 39 percent of bank tellers are forced to rely on public assistance programs just to make ends meet. This is morally wrong, yes, but it’s also just bad business.

In a few short generations, the wage gap between the average CEO and the average worker has increased significantly, making it harder and harder for working people to join...

By Jan Murphy
Penn Live/ThePatriot News, March 7, 2016

More than 450 state government workers – including part-time clerks, tax season typists, custodians among others  – received a pay hike on Monday as a result of an executive order signed by Gov. Tom Wolf. The directive raised the minimum wage to $10.15 an hour for employees under the governor's jurisdiction, effective immediately. Starting July 1, it also extends the order to employees of certain organizations that negotiate contracts with the commonwealth. ... He urged the Legislature to follow up this executive order by passing legislation that would make the $10.15 an hour minimum...

By Jason Scott
Central Penn Business Journal, March 7, 2016

About 450 of the commonwealth's 79,000 employees make the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. An executive order signed today by Gov. Tom Wolf will raise the pay for those workers at a cost of about $1.6 million. ... The governor said the move will boost morale, improve productivity and reduce training costs associated with turnover.

The executive order also covers employees of organizations that negotiate state contracts or that lease property to the commonwealth. Those employees that perform direct services to the commonwealth or spend at least 20 percent of their...

WFMZ-TV 69 News, Allentown, PA, March 7, 2016

Read more at: http://www.wfmz.com/news/wolf-raises-minimum-wage-for-those-who-work-for-him/38386018

By Daniel Craig
Philly Voice, March 7, 2016

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order Monday to raise the minimum wage for state employees from $7.25 to $10.15 ... He also calls on legislators to help him implement a similar raise for all employees in Pennsylvania, something he said would help 1.2 million workers. ... Media reports have noted that the Republican-controlled legislature has shown no indication it is willing to increase the minimum wage for all state residents.

Wolf's announcement includes a quote from John Traynor, the owner of the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, who supports increasing the minimum wage for...

By Fred von Wiegen
Finger Lakes Daily News, March 3, 2016

Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that more than 85 New York businesses [and business organizations] have endorsed his proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15. The businesses comprise small and large companies from all across the state. They agree with Cuomo's argument that the higher wage will raise the standard of living and result in economic growth. ...

Cuomo says employers who pay their workers the minimum wage are actually being subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of about $7000 in public assistance...

By Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal, Feb 18, 2016

Business leaders shot down several attempts at the Legislature last year to raise Colorado’s minimum wage. ... Colorado Families for a Fair Wage — a newly formed group that organizers say is composed of low-wage workers and small-business owners — filed two proposed constitutional amendments with the Secretary of State’s office on Thursday that would raise workers’ minimum hourly pay to $12 over the next four years.

Both would bump the state minimum wage, now $8.31 an hour, to $9.30 at the start of 2017 and then increase...