BFMW In the News

By Katie Arcieri and Holden Wilen
Washington Business Journal, Jan 16, 2019

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By Holden Wilen
Baltimore Business Journal, Jan 15, 2019

The fight to raise Maryland's minimum wage to $15 began in earnest Monday with a coalition of lawmakers, advocates and business owners starting their push to pass a bill during the General Assembly's current legislative session. ...

By Pamela Wood
The Baltimore Sun, Jan 14, 2019

Advocates and lawmakers began their push Monday to gradually raise Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 by 2023, a starting point for negotiations on what’s expected to be one of the hottest topics of this year’s General Assembly session.

The state’s minimum wage is currently $10.10 per hour. ...

By Danielle E. Gaines
Maryland Matters, Jan 14, 2019

Lawmakers, advocates ― and even some small business owners ― gathered in Annapolis on Monday evening, vowing to push for a $15 minimum wage bill. ...

Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, argued that a higher minimum wage could lead to less employee turnover and greater worker ― and, in return, customer ― satisfaction at small businesses.

By Christian M. Wade
Haverhill Gazette, Jan 10, 2019

...  Wages are rising for hundreds of thousands of workers in Massachusetts in the new year, with the first of five annual increases bumping up the state's minimum wage to $12 per hour. ... This year's increase is the first of several annual hikes that will bring the state's minimum wage up to $15 per hour by 2023. ...

some business groups say hiking the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do, but that it also makes economic sense.

By Tom Dempsey
KSHB-TV, Kansas City’s 41 Action News, Jan 02, 2019

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A minimum wage increase went into effect across all of Missouri on Tuesday, months after voters in the state approved a measure with more 60 percent support. The change increases minimum wage 75 cents from $7.85 to $8.60 an hour.

At Brewery Emperial in the Crossroads, owner Julie Thompson said the new rate [the brewery raised entry pay earlier] was already helping with hiring at the location.

CNN Early Start, Jan 2, 2019

KATV ABC 7, Jan 2, 2019

LITTLE ROCK (TALK BUSINESS AND POLITICS) -- As the new year gets underway, many Arkansans will be among the millions of workers across the U.S. getting a wage hike ...

In Arkansas, voters overwhelmingly supported Issue 5 during the Nov. 6 election, approving a 75 cent per hour wage hike from last year’s $8.50 an hour for many workers across the state. Under the initiated act that was supported by the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage coalition and other progressive groups across the state, that standard will then rise to $10 in 2020 and $11 in 2021.

By Wesley Brown
Talk Business & Politics, Jan 1, 2018

As the new year gets underway, many Arkansans will be among the millions of workers across the U.S. getting a wage hike ...

In Arkansas, voters overwhelmingly supported Issue 5 during the Nov. 6 election, approving a 75 cent per hour wage hike from last year’s $8.50 an hour for many workers across the state. Under the initiated act that was supported by the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage coalition and other progressive groups across the state, that standard will then rise to $10 in 2020 and $11 in 2021.

By Christian M. Wade, Statehouse Reporter
Salem News/North of Boston Media Group, Dec 31, 2018. Also in Eagle Tribune, Gloucester Daily Times, more

Wages will be rising for hundreds of thousands of low-skilled workers in Massachusetts in the New Year, with the first of five annual increases bumping up the state's minimum wage to $12 per hour beginning Tuesday. ... This year's increase is the first of several annual hikes that will bring the state's wage floor up to $15 per hour by 2023. ...

Still, some business groups say hiking the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do, it also makes economic sense.

"It leads to more spending at every level, from purchases of food and school supplies, to rent and car repairs, to the occasional meal out with the family," said Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national advocacy group. "Minimum wage increases also pay off for businesses in lower employee turnover, reduced hiring and training costs, lower error rates, increased productivity and better customer service.” ...

By Shahla Farzan
St. Louis Public Radio, Dec 30, 2018

The new year means an increase to Missouri's minimum wage ... Starting Jan. 1, the minimum wage will increase from $7.85 an hour to $8.60. The raise comes after voters approved Proposition B in November, which calls for boosting the state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2023. ...

St. Louis business owner Joe Edwards, who supports the higher wage, said it’s important to him to treat workers with “respect and consideration.”

Athol Daily News, Dec 28, 2018

BOSTON – On January 1, 2019, 662,000 low-wage workers in Massachusetts will get a raise when the state’s minimum wage rises from $11 to $12 an hour, the first of five annual increases laid out in legislation passed this spring that will bring the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2023. Also on January 1, the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers will rise from $3.75 to $4.35 an hour. ...

By Jordan Larimore
Joplin Globe, Dec 27, 2018

As of next Tuesday, Missouri is set to become one of the more than one-third of states to have raised the minimum wage in the past calendar year. Voters in Missouri and Arkansas approved increases in the states' minimum wages in November, and as many as 18 others have passed either ballot initiatives or bills to do the same.

WHDH-TV 7 News, Dec. 26, 2018

BOSTON (WHDH) - The lowest-paid workers in Massachusetts have something to look forward to in 2019: a higher minimum wage. Come Jan. 1, more than 650,000 workers across the Bay State will make at least $12 per hour. Wages will jump to $15 per hour by 2023. ...

Jackson Renshaw, the owner of Dorchester’s Fresh Food Generation, says his company has benefitted from starting employees out at $12 per hour.

By Katie Lannan
State House News Service, Dec 26, 2018

Fifteen percent of working parents in Massachusetts and 19 percent of children in the state will be affected by the $1 minimum wage increase that takes effect next week, according to a new analysis. The Jan. 1, 2019 hike from $11 hourly to $12, part of a multi-year phased-in increase to $15 an hour, will benefit 662,000 workers, for a total wage increase of $817.5 million, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. ...