How can a company have an award-winning green operation, pay one of the highest minimum wages to its employees, manufacture in the US and still be very profitable?

We turned to Earth Friendly products CEO, Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, to tell us how her late Greek immigrant father manage to create a green giant in the US, and how today that giant continues to expand under her leadership, while holding onto some of the best work and environmental ethics.

Earlier this year, Earth Friendly Products, the leading manufacturer in green household and commercial cleaning products, won the Safer Choice Partner of...

LA union wants to be exempt from $15 minimum wage
By Heesun Wee
CNBC, July 30, 2015

As cities and states move independently to raise mandated pay for workers, the role of unions has emerged in the national fight for $15 an hour. ...

According to [Economic Policy Institute] analysis, a federal minimum wage of $12 in 2020 would return the wage floor to about the same position in the overall wage distribution that it had in 1968. ...

Mandated higher pay, of course, is a divisive issue and some small business owners say raised...

Op-Ed By Danny Winter
AL.com, Alabama Media Group, July 28, 2015

As a small business owner in Birmingham, I support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. This would be good for customers, good for businesses, and good for our city's economic health.

Fair wages are at the core of my business success. I have been in business for over 20 years. I own two eateries: Crestwood Coffee Company and Buck Mulligan's, an Irish pub near the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Most of our 30 employees earn at least $10 an hour today...

By Geri Gibbons
Times Leader (PA), July 26, 2015

WILKES-BARRE — ... Federally, it seems raising the minimum wage has been a long time coming. This past Friday marked six years since the federal minimum wage was last increased in 2009.

Some businesses have come forward with their contention that raising the minimum wage will not only be good for employees, but good for businesses and the economy in general.

According to the website of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, comprised of business and executives supporting a federal minimum wage increase to at least...

By Noam Scheiber
New York Times, July 26, 2015

WASHINGTON — The fight for a $15 minimum wage has gained momentum in New York, California and other places around the country in recent months. But as a national strategy to raise incomes at the bottom of the pay scale, it faces major obstacles, both political and economic.

In many states, particularly those governed by Republicans in the South and the Midwest, there is little chance of raising the minimum wage above the federal level, which has stood at $7.25 since 2009. Congressional Democrats have introduced...

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, July 21, 2015

A New York state board is scheduled to weigh in on fast-food wages on Wednesday. Citing a person familiar with the plans, The Wall Street Journal said the Wage Board is expected to recommend lifting the state's fast-food minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The state's hourly minimum is $8.75, and will reach $9 by the end of the year. The board—created at the urging of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo—has the power to raise wages for state fast-food workers without legislative approval. ... Within the fast-food industry, McDonald's...

By Aimee Picchi
CBS MoneyWatch, July 20, 2015

The global economy is improving. Just don't tell many of the people who live and work in it. That's according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has published a report about the labor conditions of its nearly three dozen member countries, including the U.S., Japan, and European countries such as the U.K. While economic conditions have generally improved, the recovery is far from complete, and remains uneven across countries.

One of the ailments of today's job market is a shift toward part-time work...

By Amanda Yeager
Baltimore Sun, July 1, 2015

The minimum wage in Maryland is on the rise. The second increase in the state's base hourly rate went into effect on Wednesday, six months after the first pay hike from $7.25 to $8 went into effect on Jan. 1.

Minimum wage workers will earn $8.25 an hour for the next year. The Maryland General Assembly voted to raise the minimum wage in increments when it passed the bill in 2014 – the rate will now rise on an annual basis for the next three years, to...

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, June 30, 2015

As advocates work to raise the federal minimum wage, the Obama Administration is taking action where it can to fight income inequality. President Barack Obama late Monday introduced a proposal to extend overtime payment to more white-collar workers. Obama unveiled his plan to extend overtime protections to nearly 5 million workers in 2016. ...

The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Beyond smaller employers, some of America's largest businesses already have raised wages above $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum.

The Gap announced hikes for workers...

Some business leaders have backed counternarrative that wage hikes will benefit all levels of economy

By Cherri Senders
Los Angeles Business Journal, June 22, 2015

... The public conversation around lifting the minimum wage is both familiar and distressing. We have come to accept a narrative that pits the interests of low-wage workers and their families against those of business and the economic climate. But what if this narrative is more myth than fact? What if there were actually a convergence between the interests of workers at the bottom of the economic ladder and businesses...

Legislation to further engage workers will help business bottom lines

By David Brodwin
U.S. News & World Report, June 22, 2015

The world of corporations divides in two when it comes to mobilizing and motivating employees. Some, for example Starbucks and Southwest Airlines, take the high road. They pay above average wages, provide above average training and take steps to engage their workers and keep them happy. 

Other companies take the low road, cutting wages and benefits as far as possible, then pushing payroll costs even lower with exploitive on-call scheduling. ...

New research recently...

By Collin Reischman
Missouri Times, June 18, 2015

Saint Louis, Mo. — Mayor Francis Slay has kicked off a discussion about the minimum wage and, in doing so, is fighting with state lawmakers in an effort to move the City of Saint Louis toward a higher minimum wage. It may be a debate before the city’s Board of Alderman, but with state lawmakers sending a bill — HB 722 — to the governor just weeks ago that explicitly prohibits any city from raising the minimum wage past the state rate, the battle lines are clearly drawn...

Editorial
St. Louis Post Dispatch, June 12, 2015

In the abstract, Mayor Francis Slay’s proposal to raise the minimum wage in the city of St. Louis over five years to $15 an hour is a splendid idea. Regrettably, in practice it might well make a dicey job market worse, undermining the city’s steps toward economic revival. Mr. Slay’s proposal, as set forth in Board Bill 83, will get its first hearing Tuesday in the aldermanic Ways and Means Committee. Though it has the support of at least eight of the 28 aldermen and aldermanic President...

By Don Lee
Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2015

FOR THE RECORD: 9:17 a.m., June 2: An earlier photo caption with this story identified hardware store owner Gina Schaefer as an advocate of a higher minimum wage. While she supports raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020, she has taken no position on a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

Gina Schaefer prides herself in taking care of workers. The owner of 10 Ace Hardware stores in the Washington, D.C., area pays her 215 employees at least $10.50 an hour. That's a buck more...

By Hanah Cho
Nerd Wallet, May 28, 2015

Across the country, 29 states and the District of Columbia have a higher minimum wage than federal law requires. Now wage increases are being pushed in large cities as well. ...

NerdWallet asked some small-business owners how a higher minimum wage would affect their operations. ...

Gina Schaefer, co-owner of 10 Ace Hardware stores in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, also pays her employees above the minimum wage because it contributes to better customer service. The business also budgets for pay increases, she says.

Maryland...