BFMW In the News

By Ledyard King
USA TODAY, Feb 25, 2021

Backers of a push to raise the federal hourly minimum wage to $15 suffered a key loss Thursday after a Senate official ruled the controversial measure cannot be considered as part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package making its way through Congress. ...

Rebecca Hamilton, co-CEO of New Hampshire-based W.S. Badger Company, which makes skincare products, told the [House Small Business] committee that paying her employees no less than $15 an hour has helped her small firm.

By Samantha Manning
Cox Media Group, Washington News Bureau, Feb 24, 2021

Leaders in Washington are debating whether the federal minimum wage should be more than doubled from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. A House subcommittee took up the issue Wednesday, and lawmakers were at odds over the long-term economic impact to workers and small businesses.

Lawmakers heard from a small-business owner of a [skin care] company based in New Hampshire which already starts the pay rate for workers at $15 an hour.

By Damien Fisher
Union Leader (NH), Feb 24, 2021

As Congress considers raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour — a measure that might be included in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill — the head of a Gilsum-based health products company testified in favor of paying workers more.

By Mitch Perry
Spectrum News, Bay News 9, Feb. 16, 2021

Among the most controversial bills filed in advance of the 2021 Florida legislative session is a proposal by state Sen. Jeff Brandes that would amend the constitutional amendment passed last November that raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2026. The St. Petersburg Republican’s measure would allow the Legislature to exempt convicted felons, people under 21 and other “hard to hire” workers from receiving that higher wage – but it would only go into effect if passed by the voters as a constitutional amendment. ...

By Megan R. Wilson
Bloomberg, Feb. 16, 2021

A proposal to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2025 has triggered a fierce lobbying battle on Capitol Hill, pitting some powerful business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against large labor unions and civil rights coalitions. ...

Op-Ed By Wendell Young IV and Sen. Christine “Tina” Tartaglione
Penn Live/ Patriot News, Feb 5, 2021

It is rare that you will find the president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce, union leaders, advocates, and members of the General Assembly all on the same page. But after a three-hour long hearing hosted by chair of the Democratic Policy Committee Senator Katie Muth at the request of Senators Tartaglione, Haywood and Kane, it seems there might be one issue we could all agree upon: eliminating local government pre-emption for minimum wage laws. ...

By Joanna Fantozzi
Restaurant Hospitality, Feb 5, 2021

By John Biers, Delphine Touitou
AFP News (Agence France-Presse), Barron's, Jan 31, 2021. Also in International Business Times, Yahoo News, MSN, Raw Story, many more

When President Joe Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal earlier this month, few were surprised by the plan's hefty price tag or sweeping scope. More striking was Biden's inclusion of a measure to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15. ...

By Benjamin Kail
MassLive, Jan 27, 2021

Democrats are pressing to double the federal minimum wage to $15, introducing a standalone bill in Congress Tuesday as lawmakers and White House officials haggle over President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus plan, which also includes a bump ...

“The economy will get a shot in the arm when states raise their minimum wage to start the new year,” Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said in December. More than 1,300 businesses and business groups have signed on to support Sklar’s effort, according to CBS News.

By Sarah Ewall-Wice
CBS News, Jan 27, 2021

President Biden is among those who believe that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour is what's needed to bring the lowest-paid Americans out of poverty. "No one in America should work 40 hours a week making below the poverty line," he said Friday. ...

By Stephen Parkhurst
Grow / CNBC, Jan 27, 2021

WATCH VIDEO with Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Vice President Alissa Barron-Menza, Badger Balm Co-CEO Rebecca Hamilton and Dr. Bronner's CEO David Bronner.

By Aarthi Swaminathan
Yahoo Finance, Jan 26, 2021

New Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and congressional Democrats are renewing their push to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. ... The newly introduced bill is co-sponsored by House Committee on Education and Labor Chair Bobby Scott (D-VA), Sanders, Senate HELP Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL). ...

Business Record, Jan 26, 2021

Vermont Business Magazine, Jan 26, 2021

In a press conference today, incoming Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) joined incoming Senate HELP Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Representative Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) to announce the introduction of legislation raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. ...

By Juliana Kaplan 
Business Insider, Jan 26, 2021

"This is not a radical idea," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on Tuesday. "This is what the American people want." ... Sanders was speaking on a press call with other Democrats from both congress and the senate who introduced the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.