A national network of business owners and executives who
believe a fair minimum wage makes good business sense
Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is a national network of business owners and executives who believe a fair minimum wage makes good business sense
By Ally Schweitzer
WAMU 88.5 (NPR), June 30, 2020
Advocates who fought for a $15 minimum wage couldn’t have predicted a threat like the coronavirus. ... But labor-focused economists and progressive business groups say an economic downturn is the wrong time to pay workers less.
Interview By Seana Smith and Ben Werschkul
Yahoo Finance, June 29, 2020
Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, President and CEO of ECOS, joined The Final Round to discuss the minimum wage increases going into effect on July first in Illinois, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C. and what it means for the economic recovery.
By Christina A. Cassidy
Associated Press (AP), June 25, 2020
... Having access to quick test results will play an important role in resuming sporting events, keeping businesses and factories open, and returning to school in the fall. But the AP survey found it sometimes still takes days for results to be returned, despite an increase in the availability of testing across the country. ...
By Jay Heflin
Washington Examiner, June 3, 2020
Restaurants across the United States are slowly and gradually reopening but face an existential risk: Many restaurants cannot survive below full capacity, meaning that the jobs of the roughly 6 million servers and bartenders laid off in the pandemic are still at stake. ...
Furthermore, patrons are not the only ones concerned about dining out. Some servers are also worried about returning to work.
“It’s too soon,” said Ned Atwater, owner of six restaurants in Maryland.
By Amanda Holpuch
The Guardian, May 25, 2020
... The March coronavirus stimulus package provided an extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits for four months for the now 39 million people who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic ... Last year, the weekly payment for unemployment was on average nearly $378, according to the US labor department. Come August, the workers who aren’t making more on unemployment will suddenly face an even bigger drop in pay.
By Jake Burns
CBS 6 News, WTVR-TV, Richmond, May 5, 2020
Virginia businesses are weighing two difficult options, one day after Governor Ralph Northam extended his closure order to May 15th: open their doors with restrictions to start making money again, or remain closed to protect the health of their employees and customers.
Alex Zavaleta and his co-owner at Charm School Social Club, an ice cream shop in downtown Richmond, have been hand scooping to-go pints for weeks after having to lay off their staff in mid-March when the virus began spreading in Virginia.
Op-Ed by John Schall
Boston Globe, April 28, 2020
COVID-19 and the resulting public health ban on dining out have plunged American restaurants into a crisis that many won’t survive. Those that remain open have become dependent on third-party delivery services. But the dominance of a few delivery companies creates its own dire financial threat to the survival of the very restaurants they serve. ...
Bloomberg Radio, April 24, 2020
By John Tucker
Interview with John Pepper, CEO, Boloco, on what the business is doing to survive the pandemic.
Letter to the Editor by Emily Kanter
Boston Globe, March 11, 2020
Below is an incomplete list of all the people who cannot “work from home” and who run the risk of their livelihoods being drastically affected if our local, state, and federal governments do not act to create broad-based economic solutions to support all this “social distancing” we’re talking about.
Op-Ed By Victoria McCoy, Owner, Glamystique Hair Salon
My business isn’t just a bottom-line operation, it’s my community. And like my business, my community could use the economic boost that would come from raising the minimum wage statewide to $15 an hour. ...
Op-Ed By Ward Tefft, Owner, Chop Suey Books
... There is simply no more direct and rapid way to boost consumer spending and strengthen Virginia’s business environment than to raise the minimum wage statewide. ...
By Tyler Arnold
The Center Square, Feb 12, 2020. Also The Central Virginian, The Breeze (James Madison University)
The Virginia House of Delegates and Senate have passed bills that would increase the commonwealth's minimum wage, but the chambers aren't on the same page in how to implement the increase.
By Ally Schweitzer
WAMU, Feb 11 2020
The Virginia House of Delegates has approved a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2025. Legislation sponsored by Del. Jeion Ward (D-Hampton) passed the chamber 55-45 Tuesday. ...
The Virginia Interfaith Center, progressive groups and the organization Business for a Fair Minimum Wage applauded the bill’s passage.
By Vernon Freeman Jr.
WTVR-TV (CBS), Feb 11, 2020
RICHMOND, Va. – A bill that would gradually raise Virginia's minimum hourly wage to $15.00 per hour, is one step closer to becoming state law. The Virginia House passed HB 395 along a party line vote Tuesday afternoon, 55-45. ...
However, other groups like, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, applauded the House’s passage of the bill.
By Seth Sandronsky
Progressive Populist, Feb 1, 2020
A new year is bringing higher wages to many folks who labor for a living in America. Nearly seven million US workers out of a paid labor force of 157 million are getting minimum wage hikes in 25 states and the District of Columbia in 2020. Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national advocacy group, backs that hourly pay increase partly for how it can cut employee turnover and reduce the price tag to hire and train new workers.