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...

By Phyllis Smith
WDTV News 5 West Virginia, July 12, 2014

WATCH VIDEO

When it comes to raising the minimum wage, employees aren't the only ones who seem to want a boost. ... In fact, about 60% of small business owners think this's a good idea. Most of them said it would increase customer's spending power and help the economy. If their workers are getting paid more, they also think they'll be less turnover and more productivity. ...

See more

By Aimee Picchi
CBS MoneyWatch, July 11, 2014

When it comes to raising the minimum wage, employees aren't the only ones who want a boost - small-business owners want it as well.

Sixty-one percent of small-business owners with employees say they support increasing the baseline wage in three stages over two-and-a-half years and adjusting it after that to keep pace with increases in the cost of living. That's a finding in a new study from the American Sustainable Business Council and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

Most said boosting it would increase consumer purchasing...

By Bryce Covert
ThinkProgress, July 11,  2014

In a new national poll, 61 percent of small business owners with under 100 employees say they support gradually increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. ...

They supported increasing the wage, which has stayed at $7.25 an hour for five years, to $10.10 over two and a half years, and then letting it automatically rise as inflation rises. Just 35 percent opposed this proposal. ...

Read more

The Peorian, July 10, 2014

Small business owners strongly favor raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and adjusting it to keep up with the cost of living in future years, according to a scientific national opinion poll released Thursday. Small business owners are considerably less partisan than Congress in weighing the issue. The federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 since it was last increased five years ago in July, 2009.

A striking 61% of small business employers support increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 in three stages over two and a half years...

By Ina Paiva Cordle
Miami Herald, July 5, 2014

... Although the Florida Legislature did not raise the state-mandated minimum wage during its last session, some minimum wage workers — like the Ikea cashiers who ring up your Swedish biscuits, the salespeople at Gap who help you find your T-shirt size, and the tellers at C1 Bank who deposit your checks — will see their pay increase.

Companies including Ikea and Gap ... have recently announced or instituted voluntary increases in their minimum wages ahead of proposed national legislation that could mandate a new federal...

By Michael Bodley
The Baltimore Sun, July 5, 2014

Juggling the rising cost of textbooks, tuition, food and rent is a little more manageable now for rising University of Maryland, Baltimore County senior Keyerra Jeter, thanks to a June 1 raise in starting pay to $9 per hour for Gap Inc.'s 65,000 employees. ... Gap Inc. brands — Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime, Athleta and Intermix — are among a growing group of major U.S. retailers now paying more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for entry-level employees. Others include Ben & Jerry's...

By Bob Salsberg
Associated Press, June 26, 2014

BOSTON (AP) - Gov. Deval Patrick signed a law on Thursday that would raise the state’s $8 per hour minimum wage to a U.S.-leading $11 per hour by 2017. ... The first increase in the minimum wage, to $9 per hour, will take effect on Jan. 1. The hourly wage will bump up to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016 and to $11 on Jan. 1, 2017, which would be above any increase currently planned in other states.

State officials said the new law would affect about 600,000 minimum...

Bay State Banner, June 26, 2014

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a Boston-based network of business owners, executives, and business groups, released a statement last week commending the state’s passage of minimum wage legislation. The new law raises the minimum wage gradually from $8 to $11.

“We applaud the legislature for listening to business owners who’ve called for a minimum wage increase to $11 an hour,” said Holly Sklar, Director of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. “We can’t build a strong economy on a falling wage floor. Massachusetts led the nation in passing...

iBerkshires, June 26, 2014

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Minimum wage workers just got a boost in Massachusetts. Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday signed a bill making the state's minimum wage the highest in the nation, raising it from the current $8 to $11 over the next several years.

According to data from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the hike will directly affect some 11,000 workers in the greater Pittsfield area and indirectly another 2,600, or about 27 percent of wage earners. ...

Opponents have said the increase would negatively impact business and drive up consumer costs...

By Rebecca Hiscott
Huffington Post, June 26, 2014

Read more about Ikea, Gap, Costco, In-N-Out Burger, Shake Shack, Ben & Jerry's, Whole Foods 

Op-Ed by John Buell
Portland Press Herald, June 26, 2014

SOUTHWEST HARBOR — ... Economists like to explain changes in salaries for baseball players, corporate CEOs and hedge fund managers by citing and validating “market forces” and supply and demand. ...

Wal-Mart wages are determined by supply and demand, but once again the question is who is shaping and gaining leverage in this market. Wal-Mart has its own version of the reserve clause. Through an aggressive competitive strategy, it has cornered the retail market – especially in many rural communities. Thus, it limits options in the...