By Laura Layden
Naples Daily News, May 11, 2014

When it comes to hiking the minimum wage, some states aren’t waiting for the federal government to act. Three states recently agreed to increase their mandated hourly wage to $10.10 per hour. A proposal to do the same for virtually all workers in Florida went nowhere this legislative session, however. Federal legislation would raise wages to that amount in three steps, and index them to inflation. ...

Recent polls have shown strong public support for raising the minimum wage, which hasn’t increased since 2009. The federal minimum wage now...

By Robert Lang
WBAL News, May 5, 2014

Governor Martin O'Malley today signs the bill to boost the minimum wage.

The bill will increase the minimum wage gradually to $10.10-an-hour by July, 2018. ... Under the legislation, the minimum wage would increase from $7.25 to $8.25-an-hour in January.  Its would increase to $8.75-an hour, in July, 2015, $9.25-an hour in July, 2016, and $9.75-an-hour in July, 2017. ...

There are a group of business owners who supported the legislation that are also expected to attend the ceremony. ...

The House of Delegates first approved this bill...

By Rob Scott
Assocations Now, May 5, 2014

As a measure to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour was blocked in the Senate last week, associations on both sides of the debate continue to make their case for and against a minimum wage increase. ...

In a strong statement last week, the board of directors for nonprofit leadership group Independent Sector called on all nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to pledge to pay a “living wage” to all employees.

“[I]ndividuals should have the opportunity to earn a life-sustaining wage that enables them to...

By J.D. Harrison
Washington Post, April 30 2014

Small business owners are vehemently opposed to raising the minimum wage. Meanwhile, in other news, small business owners overwhelmingly favor raising the minimum wage.

Wait. What?

Depending on who you ask and which polls you trust, you can come away with a very different perspective on how an increase in the federal minimum wage would affect small firms. And with Congress and several states currently mulling legislation to raise the floor on wages, employers in towns across the country are lining up on either side of what has...

By Kent Hoover
Washington Business Journal, April 30. 2014

... [In remarks at the White House President Obama] noted that many businesses have decided to pay their workers more “because they know it’s good business.” Businesses with higher-paid employees face less turnover, and their workers are more productive, he said. Plus, their customers “see the difference.”

Small business owners who support raising the federal minimum wage make the same point.

“We raised our minimum wage to $10.10 without raising prices, knowing that employees who make ends meet stay longer and are more productive,” said Chris Sommers...

By Lisa Jennings
Nation's Restaurant News, April 30 2014

A key Senate vote on Wednesday blocked a bill that set out to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour — a result supported by restaurant industry associations including the National Restaurant Association and National Council of Chain Restaurants. ...

A coalition of business leaders that support Harkin’s bill say the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour — and not the proposed increase — is what is hurting businesses and the economy.

Chris Sommers, co-owner of Euclid Hospitality Group, which includes...

By Tom Wilemon
The Tennessean, April 30, 2014

The "Give America a Raise" bus arrived in Nashville and then left Tennessee as a bill to raise the minimum wage stalled in the U.S. Senate. The bill failed to get past a procedural roadblock, receiving 54 votes to go forward for debate when 60 were needed. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker was the lone Republican voting to allow the bill to go forward.

"While I think the underlying policy is problematic, I think we should always debate ways to help improve the standard of living of Americans," Corker...

By Tom Troy
Toledo Blade, April 30, 2014

Local advocates of raising the federal minimum wage brought their bus tour to Toledo on Tuesday to press Congress to pass a three-year increase to $10.10 per hour. Several local speakers, including two South Toledo business owners, advocated for the rise as the way to help people out of poverty and motivate workers, and to spin off and benefit the economy. ...

Dave Schultz, president of Keystone Press Inc. on Broadway, said his family business has 10 employees and all are paid more than the minimum wage.

“If...

By Tim McNicholas
NBC24, WNWO, April 30, 2014

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Forty-two Senators voted against the measure, including Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). ...

Toledo business owner Dave Schultz called Sen. Portman and urged him to vote in favor of a minimum wage increase. He has ten employees who make at least $11 an hour. Ohio’s minimum wage is $7.95.

“I’m disappointed,” Schultz said after the vote. “I would hope that our Congress people would have the working families at mind when they’re voting...

By Barb Berggoetz
Indianapolis Star, April 28, 2014

A couple of local employers talked about how raising their workers' pay above the current minimum wage has attracted better-quality employees. Employees making low wages spoke about working two jobs and struggling to make ends meet. It was all part of a rally Monday to support an increase in the federal minimum wage. The rally was spurred by a stop on Monument Circle by a national bus tour organized by Americans United for Change. ...

Aaron Schaler, who has ownership rights for Pizza King in Indianapolis, said he decided to...

Associated Press, April 25, 2014

ST. LOUIS (AP) — ... The "Give America A Raise" tour is visiting 20 states to promote an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from the current minimum of $7.25. A change in state law increased the minimum wage in Missouri to $7.50 an hour in January. ... The local rally is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Vintage Vinyl record store on the Delmar Loop.

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New Mexico Daily Lobo, April 24, 2014

Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), foreground, speaks in support of a $10.10 national minimum wage at a news conference at Focus Ink on Tuesday. Americans United for Change, an income equity advocacy group visited Albuquerque as part of the “Give America a Raise Bus Tour.” Other speakers included Nancy Denker, owner of Focus Ink, Carter Bundy, political and legislative director of the New Mexican council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Juan Certain, co-owner of The Brew coffee shop. Certain and Denker both...

By Jeremy Foster, News Editor
KTAR-FM, April 22, 2014

PHOENIX -- ... On Monday afternoon, small business owners, employees and anti-poverty activists joined several state lawmakers for a rally at the State Capitol as part of the "Give America a Raise" bus tour. The message to Congress was clear: Raise the minimum wage in Arizona from $7.90 to $10.10 an hour.

Brandon Cooley runs an insurance agency in central Phoenix and said employers who say they can't afford to pay their workers an extra $2.20 an hour are only hurting themselves.

"They can't afford not...

Op-Ed By Scott Nash
Washington Post, April 20, 2014

One of the companies I admire most is Costco. ... Back in 2008 when the economy was in a downward spiral, founder and chief executive Jim Sinegal said that instead of looking for ways to cut costs and reduce compensation like most companies were doing, it was especially important to find ways of supporting the staff in this time of hardship. ...

Costco’s average pay rate is $21 per hour, while BJ’s average is $11 and Sam’s Club’s $12. However, Costco is the performance leader in the club...

Op-Ed By Fran Quigley
Indianapolis Star, April 15, 2014

... The McDonald’s and Walmart business model may be built on exorbitant CEO salaries and referring their front-line employees to the welfare office, food pantries and plasma banks. But that is not the way mom and pop stores want to operate, in part because low-paid workers have such limited purchasing power. “The biggest problem for Main Street businesses is lack of customer demand,” Business for a Fair Minimum Wage director Holly Sklar says. “Corporate profits are at their highest since 1950, as a percentage of national income...