BFMW In the News

By Joel Hulsey
KSDK 5 (NBC), St. Louis, May 2, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Show Me State could receive a significant pay raise within the next five years if an initiative by state leaders have their way.

Wednesday, several Missouri business leaders, workers and supporters of a new ballot will hold a press conference to turn in signatures in support of the initiative. If passed, the ballot would increase Missouri's minimum wage from $7.85 per hour to $8.60 per hour by 2019, with a gradual increase to $12 per hour in 2023.

By Jalyn Henderson
KOMU 8 (NBC), May 2, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri business owners, workers and supporters submitted a petition in support of a minimum wage increase on Wednesday morning.

More than 120,000 people signed the petition, which proposes an increase to Missouri's minimum wage from $7.85 to $8.60. The wage would gradually increase each year, by 85 cents, until the wage reaches $12 an hour in 2023. ...

By Bob Salsberg
Associated Press (AP), April 14, 2018

BOSTON — Democratic legislative leaders and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker are hoping to reach deals that would keep some prospective ballot questions from reaching voters in November, but they're running short on time and their bargaining clout appears limited.

By Katie Johnston
Boston Globe, April 10, 2018

By Christopher Fenn
The American Agora, April 2, 2018

By Ned Atwater
Baltimore Sun, Letter to the Editor, March 28, 2018

In the final days of Maryland’s legislative session, lawmakers have an opportunity to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2023 and phase out the tipped sub-minimum wage by 2025. As a restaurant owner, I know the increases will be good for business, good for Baltimore and beneficial to our state (“Raising the Md. minimum wage would stabilize families — and destabilize the underground economy,” Jan. 31).

Op-Ed By Gina Schaefer
Baltimore Business Journal, March 21, 2018

By Michelle Shvimer
Daily Free Press, March 21, 2018

Nearly 300 people gathered to spread a message to their legislators demanding job-protected paid leave and a $15 minimum wage at Boston’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral Tuesday night. ...

Raise Up MA members and supporters counteracted the idea that teenagers should be exempt from the rise in minimum wage during the meeting.

Michael Kanter, the co-founder of Cambridge Naturals, a retail health store, said he is against the idea of a lower minimum wage for teenagers.

By Steven H. Foskett Jr. 
Worcester Telegram & Gazette, March 20, 2018

Columbus Radio Group, March 14, 2018

COLUMBUS – Democratic lawmakers want to give Ohio’s lowest-paid workers a raise, though the proposal faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Statehouse. The legislators, flanked by workers’ advocates and progressive policy experts, announced a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage in 50-cent-an-hour steps to $15 per hour over the next seven years. ...

Fall River Reporter, March 11, 2018

New Bedford, MA – South Coast legislators were met with a message Saturday from the voters gathered at the Carney Academy in New Bedford for a Fall River/New Bedford briefing on paid leave and a $15 minimum wage: “Pass These Bills!” ...

By Carlos Marquina, March 7, 2018

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland—In a hearing before the House Economic Matters Committee, supporters of a proposed hike in Maryland’s minimum wage argued that the current rate leaves hundreds of thousands of the state’s working families trapped in a cycle of poverty. ...

Story includes Gina Schaefer, owner, A Few Cool Hardware Stores

WATCH VIDEO

By Adam Uzialko
Business.com, Feb 27, 2018

Don't just think of paying more than minimum wage as an expense. It can be an investment in the overall health of your business.

The federal minimum wage, and those mandated by states and localities, represents a requirement for the floor for payment that employers must offer. However, the minimum wage does not always line up with the cost of living in a given area, nor do real wages necessarily rise with productivity or profits.