By Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star (IN), July 24, 2014

Praise, ire surround push to raise low rung for worker compensation

TERRE HAUTE — Thursday marked the fifth anniversary since the federal minimum wage was increased, a wage U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez contends should again be raised. ... “It’s been exactly five years since workers at the bottom of the income ladder have gotten a raise. Since then, the cost of a gallon of milk, a week of child care, a month’s rent and everything else a working family needs has gone up” ... 

Wage...

By Alain Sherter
CBS Money Watch, July 24, 2014

... Although the minimum wage has risen to $7.25 over the ensuing years (tipped workers typically earn much less), the purchasing power of employees earning that baseline level pay has steadily shrunk because it isn't rising along with inflation. In fact, minimum-wage workers earn less today in real dollars than they did more than 50 years ago. In financial terms, they have effectively defied the laws of physics and traveled backward in time.

Today marks the five-year anniversary since the federal minimum was last raised, from...

Latin Business Today, July 24, 2014

WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) — Five years to the day since the last increase in the federal minimum wage, Democrats are renewing a call to bring the minimum up to $10.10 an hour. ... Harkin, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said more than 60 percent of small-business owners in the country polled said they support raising the minimum wage. Business owners understand that the people who would benefit are their customers, he said, and putting more money in their hands means better sales and...

By Jeremy Allen
MLive, July 24, 2014

The Obama Administration isn't above using social media to try to persuade Republicans in Congress to cast a unified vote with the Democrats in order to raise the federal minimum wage.
Thursday afternoon, the official Instagram page for the White House posted a photo of President Barack Obama's April 2, 2014 trip to Ann Arbor and Zingerman's Delicatessen with the following message: "It's time for Republicans in Congress to join Democrats and raise the minimum wage because nobody who works full-time should live in poverty. #1010Now #RaiseTheWage"

The post comes...

By Jeremy Allen
Michigan Live, July 22, 2014

Paul Saginaw's advocacy for increased wages has earned him a trip to the White House. The Zingerman's co-owner will be honored today in Washington, D.C., with other business owners across the country as they receive Raise the Wage Champions for Change awards.

The awards will be presented to nine activists, advocates and business owners who the Obama administration says have taken action to raise wages for working men and women around the country. ...

President Obama made a visit to Zingerman's Delicatessen during his April trip to Ann...

Associated Press (AP), July 22, 2014

The White House has honored an Ann Arbor businessman with a Champions of Change award. Paul Saginaw is among those who were recognized at a ceremony on Tuesday in the nation’s capital.

He’s the co-founder of the Zingerman’s community of businesses. During a visit to Ann Arbor in April, President Barack Obama praised Saginaw for paying his restaurant workers above minimum wage. ...

Saginaw participated in the ceremony and then took part in a round table discussion Tuesday.

Read more

In many papers, including for example

Crain's Detroit Business

Detroit...

CBS St. Louis/KMOX, July 22, 2014

WASHINGTON (KMOX) - The driving force behind Vintage Vinyl’s success on the Delmar Loop will be recognized in Washington D.C.

The White House says Lew Prince will be honored today as one of America’s “Champions of Change.”

Prince, co-founder and co-owner of the iconic St. Louis record store, is being saluted by President Obama for his efforts to raise the minimum wage.

Prince is also a longtime spokesperson for Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a network of business owners and executives advocating for the business advantages of a...

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent
Black Press USA, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) News Wire, July 22, 2014. Also in Tennessee Tribune, New Pittsburgh Courier, Indianapolis Recorder, Louisiana Weekly, more

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – More than 60 percent of small business owners with employees favor increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 in three stages, according to a new survey.

The poll, sponsored by the American Sustainable Business Council, an advocacy group that represents more than 200,000 businesses and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, described on the group’s website as “a national network of business owners...

Fox2 News St. Louis, July 21, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTVI) – A longtime loop business owner will be recognized at the White House Tuesday. Lew Prince, co-owner of Vintage Vinyl, is being honored for his work to raise awareness about increasing the minimum wage.

Prince says with a few exceptions, his employees have always earned more than the minimum wage.

He’ll be participating in panel discussions with other business owners on raising the minimum wage while in Washington, D.C.

See more

By Joel Connelly
Seattle Post Intelligencer, July 21, 2014

President Obama can’t get House Republicans to move on hiking the minimum wage, but he is honoring as “Champions of Change” a bevy of American activists who have fought for economic justice at the state and local level. ...

The White House is also honoring a prince of an employer. He is Lew Prince, co-owner of Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, who is [a] leader of a group called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.  He has traveled from Springfield to Washington, D.C., arguing for a higher...

By Dale Buss
Chief Executive, July 18 2014 

From coast to coast and at every level of government and enterprise, in the midst of a slow-growth economy, pressures understandably are rising for higher minimum wages in the hopes they would boost household finances and, ultimately, consumer spending. But will they? ...

A survey by an activist group supporting that effort, “Business for a Fair Minimum Wage,” reports that “small business owners with employees are strongly in favor of raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and adjusting it to keep up with the cost of living in...

Guest Column By Ricardo McQueen. Mr. McQueen is a member-leader in Florida Main Street Alliance.
The Florida Squeeze, Small Business View, July 18, 2014

I have more than a decade of experience running a small business that provides health and safety audits, training, food industry certifications, and compliance assistance for hospitality, medical and environmental businesses. You could say I’m in the business of helping other businesses be better, and do better. And I believe when it comes to economic security issues for working families, like a higher minimum wage and Earned Sick Time, we all need...

By Bill Nemitz
Portland Press Herald, July 16, 2014

Today we celebrate one of the good guys. ...

[Jim] Wellehan, the longtime owner of Lamey-Wellehan Shoes, is the star of a two-minute video launched recently on social media by President Obama. ... A little context: The federal minimum wage currently is $7.25 per hour. Maine’s minimum, at $7.50 per hour, is barely better. If the Obama administration has its way, the federal minimum will increase in three steps to $10.10 per hour.

The average hourly wage among the 100 or so employees at Lamey Wellehan? Try $15...

By Jaeah Lee
Mother Jones, July 14, 2014

Last year, according to a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the CEOs of America's top 25 restaurant corporations, including McDonald's, Burger King, the Cheesecake Factory, Chipotle, and Jack in the Box, took home an average of 721 times the money minimum-wage workers did, and 194 times the take-home pay of the typical American worker in a production or nonsupervisory job. Restaurants and food services employ nearly half of all American workers who earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (or less). ... CEO compensation at America's top...

By Paul J. Nyden
Charleston Gazette, July 12, 2014

... A poll conducted last month by the American Sustainable Business Council and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage found that 61 percent of small business owners support gradually increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour.

After the minimum wage reaches $10.10 an hour, a majority of respondents support adjusting minimum wages annually to keep up with increased costs of living.

Small business owners who participated in the poll backed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by majorities of...