BFMW In the News

By Thy Vo
Colorado Sun, Jan 1, 2021

A new minimum wage increase will take effect in Colorado on New Year’s Day, bringing wages to $12.32 an hour, or $9.30 for tipped workers. The 2.7% statewide increase is based on language in the Colorado Constitution, which mandates annual inflation adjustments based on the consumer price index. Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2016 enshrining the annual wage increase in the state’s governing document. ...

By Danny Klein
FSR Magazine, January 2021

As President-elect Joe Biden assumes office later this month, he’ll bring a host of potential changes to Washington. When it comes to the restaurant industry, no topic presses deeper or more controversial than minimum wage. Biden expressed previously, pointedly on his “Build Back Better” transition website, a desire to provide workers “a decent wage, at least $15 per hour.” He’s also pushed to end tipped minimum wage and sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities. ...

By Glenn Singer
UPI (United Press International), Jan 1, 2021

With the start of the new year, 20 states have raised their minimum wage - by as much as $1.50 per hour and as little as 8 cents.

For some workers, the increases will help their families whose bread earners have been hard-hit by the coronavirus and are trying to make ends meet. For others, miniscule increases won't make much of a dent. ...

By John Reitmeyer
NJ Spotlight News, Dec 31, 2020

The hourly minimum wage in New Jersey goes up by $1 for most low-income workers starting Friday, bringing it to $12. The mandatory pay increase is the latest installment in the state’s ongoing ramp-up to a $15 hourly minimum wage and comes during the economic downturn triggered by an international pandemic that has hit low-income workers particularly hard. ...

By William J. Ford
Washington Informer, Dec 31, 2020

Nick Balmadier continues to gain coffee experience working at Vigilante Coffee Co. in College Park. Besides learning to grind coffee beans and brew java, the 22-year-old senior at the University of Maryland also gained another skill.

“I’ve learned how to clean better since working here,” said Balmadier of Howard County, who majors in community health. “It’s those little things that have made this an overall great experience.”

By Aimee Picchi
CBS News MoneyWatch, Dec. 30, 2020

Workers in 20 states will get a pay hike on January 1 when the minimum wage increases, thanks to cost-of-living adjustments and other scheduled increases. Later in the year, another four states and Washington, D.C. will raise their baseline pay, which means that low-wage workers in almost half the nation could see higher pay next year. ...

By David Mullen
Denver Gazette, Dec 30, 2020, Updated Jan 11, 2021

Workers throughout Colorado who earn minimum wage will get a slight pay raise on Friday. The minimum wage will rise from $12 per hour to $12.32 per hour. Colorado joins 19 other states that will be raising the minimum wage heading into 2021 and experts expect this to help local economies get back on track.

"The economy will get a shot in the arm when states raise their minimum wage to start the New Year," said Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Minimum Wage.

By Ashley Portero
South Florida Business Journal, Dec 30, 2020

Florida is one of 20 states that will kick off the new year by raising its minimum wage. The Sunshine State's minimum wage rises to $8.65 an hour Jan. 1, up from the current rate of $8.56. In September, the minimum wage will increase again to $10 an hour as a result of a constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters in November.

Business owners who support a higher minimum wage argue it will strengthen local workforces and boost consumer spending for the benefit of both workers and businesses.

By Shira Schoenberg
CommonWealth Magazine, Dec 29, 2020

IT’S BEEN A TOUGH YEAR for low-wage workers, who were hit hard by the pandemic – losing jobs and income and facing housing and food insecurity.

By Ben Werschkul
Yahoo Finance, Dec 28, 2020

While the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has hit poor Americans the hardest, minimum wage earners in 20 U.S. states will get raises at the start of the new year. Four more states, plus Washington, DC, will raise their minimum wages later in 2021.

By Tasos Kokkinidis
Greek Reporter, Dec 10, 2020

Greek-American Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, President and CEO of ECOS®, is not just a successful business leader but also an influential and dedicated environmentalist.

In an in-depth interview with Greek Reporter, she explains how her company, which makes the environmentally friendly ECOS Laundry Detergent and other household cleaners, adapted to the coronavirus pandemic by prioritizing the health of its employees and scaling its operations to meet the global need for cleaning products.

By Michael Sainato
The Guardian, Nov 23, 2020

By Laura Layden
Naples Daily News, Nov 19, 2020

... The first wage increase tied to Amendment 2 will come on Sept. 30, 2021, when the minimum pay in Florida will hit $10.00 an hour ...

Some area businesses welcome the minimum wage hike, saying it's long overdue and won't have the dire consequences portrayed by the opposition. ...

By Alicia Kelso
Restaurant Dive, Nov. 19, 2020

Dive Brief:

By Shawn M. Carter
CNBC Grow, Nov 12 2020

The federal minimum wage in the United States has been $7.25 since 2009, and the momentum to increase it has been growing among lawmakers. In 2019, the House of Representatives passed the Raise the Minimum Wage Act, which aims to gradually lift minimum hourly wages from $7.25 to $15 by 2025.

That initiative is popular with Democrats and increasingly so with Republicans as well. When President-elect Joe Biden, who supports the idea, takes office in January, he could have a chance to make it law. ...