BFMW In the News

By Adina Genn
Long Island Business News, March 13, 2023

A coalition is fighting to increase the minimum wage for New Yorkers to $21.25 by 2026. Members of the Raise UP NY coalition held a press conference in Uniondale last week, urging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature to raise the state’s minimum wage. Advocates say that on Long Island it should be raised by 2026, and then adjusted automatically each year to keep up with not only rising costs of living but also gains in worker productivity..

“The current minimum wage doesn’t reflect the cost of living,” Deepti Brambl, CEO of Floral Park-based Kaylaan, a provider of oral care products, said in a statement.

By Garrett Dvorkin
Baltimore Business Journal, March 13, 2023

Gina Schaefer is going to raise the minimum wage at her ACE Hardware stores ... and keep raising it to match inflation every year, no matter what the Maryland General Assembly does this year.

Schafer, who operates 15 stores in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., has a policy to pay employees based on the highest salary requirements of all her store locations. D.C. moves its minimum wage from $16.10 to $17 on July 1, and will increase the minimum wage to keep up with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — which measures inflationary pressure on consumers. All employees across Schafer’s stores will be getting a pay bump when the D.C. policies go into effect.

By Samantha Christmann
Buffalo News, March 7, 2023

The state's minimum wage is headed toward $15 per hour. But a group of business owners said it doesn't go far enough to ensure an appropriate wage for working people, and are pushing to tie the minimum wage to inflation. Advocates of the Raise the Wage Act say gains made by minimum wage increases have been eroded by inflation. The bill calls for indexing the minimum wage – tying it to inflation rates and moving the minimum wage by a corresponding percentage annually. And, to make up for the years that didn't happen, it calls for increasing the minimum wage to $21.25 per hour. ...

By Andy Medici
The Business Journals, Mar 6, 2023

A majority of business leaders and executives support annual increases in the federal minimum wage, according to a new survey by compensation data and services firm PayScale Inc.

The survey of compensation professionals, human resources leaders and business executives found 75% of U.S. respondents agreed the federal minimum wage should be increased. About 66% said the minimum wage, which currently stands at $7.25 per hour, should go up automatically every year to keep up pace with the cost of living. ...

By Karen Juanita Carrillo
New York Amsterdam News, March 2, 2023

More than 200 New York businesses and business organizations have signed on to the New York Business for a Fair Minimum Wage statement, which calls for passage of legislation that would raise the state’s minimum wage and index future increases to the cost of living.

The business owners signing on to the statement say they believe that with higher salaries, wage earners will become confident consumers who will have the income to help spur the local economy.

By David Lombardo
The Capitol Pressroom, March 1, 2023

New York Senate Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos and Aaron Bartley, a Buffalo business owner, make the case for raising the minimum wage and argue that Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal doesn't go far enough.

Read more and LISTEN

By Julia March
Politico, Feb 28, 2023

... BUSINESSES FOR MINIMUM WAGE: A new coalition of hundreds of businesses and business organizations on Tuesday said it would push for raising the minimum wage and indexing further increases to inflation.

By Patrick Herron
The MoCo Show, Feb 28, 2023

Per the State of Maryland (2.27.23): Governor Wes Moore hosted a community round table at the State House and testified in the Maryland House Economic Matters Committee Hearing in support of the Fair Wage Act, presented as HB 549. The legislation accelerates the planned increase to a $15 minimum wage, fully implementing the increase for all covered employers as of October 1, 2023.

By Delonte Harrod
The Intersection Magazine, Feb 28, 2023

Before Gov. Wes Moore went and testified before the Maryland House of Economic Matters Committee at 1 p.m. on Feb. 27, he met with business leaders and an employee, Antonia Brown, to hear about the importance of passing the Fair Wage Act (HB549). The Fair Wage Act would help to speed up the state of reaching the $15 minimum wage point by Oct. 1, 2023. ...

By Deja Parker
WMDT (47ABC) Delmarva, Feb 27, 2023

In Maryland, the question on the table is will minimum wage go up to $15.00 an hour sooner than intended. Many business owners went to the State House to testify in support of the measure. The Fair Wage Act of 2023 would lift the minimum wage to $15.00 in October. ... One business owner, Courtney Sunborn for Ecolostic Cleaning says she supports the bill because she’s been paying more than the minimum for years now.

By Ava-Joye Burnett
CBS Baltimore, WJZ,Feb 27, 2023

Maryland is supposed to get to a $15 minimum wage by January 2025. Now, Gov. Wes Moore and several lawmakers want to expedite the process to get to that minimum wage increase sooner.

Those who support the minimum wage increase tell WJZ it is important to do this now because inflation has had an impact on how far money stretches, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporters also said that higher wages make them more competitive, it cuts back on turnover of new employees, and it's good business because it gets more money into the pockets of workers. If the governor has his way, the $15 minimum will come about 15 months earlier, in October of 2023.

By Brad Bell
ABC 7News, Annapolis, Feb 27, 2023

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (7News) — At the Rise Up coffee shop in Annapolis, the notion of raising Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 an hour this year instead in 2025 is a popular one among those making the lattes.

“It’s really important to support small businesses in the community and if that means putting money into the little guy I think it’ll eventually work out for everyone in the long run,” says Tyler a worker at the coffee shop. ...

[Governor Wes] Moore hosted an unusual public discussion featuring union leaders and business owners who support his plan, including the founder and CEO of popular pizza chain &Pizza, who claims higher wages boost his profits.

By Chris Montcalmo
NottinghamMD.com, Feb 27, 2023 

TOWSON, MD—Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski will testify before the Economic Matters Committee on Monday and share support for the Fair Wage Act of 2023 (HB-549).

This legislation would accelerate the state’s $15-per-hour minimum wage, fully implementing that wage for all covered employers as of October 1 instead of 2026 as currently required. In addition, the Fair Wage Act would index the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index beginning on July 1, 2025 ...

By Adam Uzialko
Business.com, Updated Jan 23, 2023

Employees who earn enough to get by improve performance and overall business.

Paying a “living wage” requires more than just meeting state and federal minimum wage requirements. Living in certain communities is more expensive and requires people to earn more to sustain basic life necessities. ...

By David A. Fahrenthold and Talmon Joseph Smith
New York Times, Jan. 17, 2023

For many cooks, waiters and bartenders, it is an annoying entrance fee to the food-service business: Before starting a new job, they pay around $15 to a company called ServSafe for an online class in food safety.

That course is basic, with lessons like “bathe daily” and “strawberries aren’t supposed to be white and fuzzy, that’s mold.” In four of the largest states, this kind of training is required by law, and it is taken by workers nationwide.

But in taking the class, the workers — largely unbeknown to them — are also helping to fund a nationwide lobbying campaign to keep their own wages from increasing.