BFMW In the News

By Will Bauer
Nebraska Public Media (PBS, NPR), July 22, 2022

Thirteen years after the federal government last raised the federal minimum wage, a ballot initiative in Nebraska aims to raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026.

Petition organizers submitted nearly double the required number of signatures earlier this month to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office. The petition proposes gradually raising the minimum wage each year.

“I think Nebraska's graduated scale is fairly conservative and will be easy to hit,” said Mike Draper, who owns Raygun, a clothing and design store in Omaha. “And it's adequate for businesses to plan for.”

Op-Ed By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for 13 years. ... Every day without a raise is another day the minimum wage falls further behind the cost of living. ...

By Christopher Rugaber
Associated Press (AP), July 8, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — A strong hiring report for June has assuaged fears that the U.S. economy might be on the cusp of a recession — and highlighted the resilience of the nation’s job market. ...

John Schall, the owner of a Boston-based Tex-Mex restaurant chain called El Jefe’s Taqueria, is enjoying strong sales growth and says he’s optimistic about his business. He plans to open his eighth restaurant next week in Pittsburgh. Schall has hired five managers there and will add up to 30 hourly workers.

Having opened six stores in the chaotic two years since the pandemic struck, he is relatively unfazed by inflation and supply chain problems.

By Lorie Konish
CNBC, July 7, 2022

Workers earning minimum wage are getting an income boost in some parts of the U.S., thanks to new higher minimum pay rates that went into effect in July.

Connecticut, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C., all had new higher minimum wages as of July 1. Those increases come as the federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 per hour, unchanged since 2009.

President Joe Biden has advocated for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour for all workers. In January, an executive order he signed that raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour for federal workers and contractors went into effect. ...

How higher wages may help businesses

KETV, ABC 7 (Omaha), July 7, 2022

A petition submitted Thursday morning would put the issue of the minimum wage on the ballot in November. ... The proposed measure would gradually increase the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026.

One Lincoln business owner said this will help everyone.

"Fair wages make a business stronger, they also make our economy and our community stronger. A person working full-time for Nebraska's current $9 minimum wage earns just $18,700 a year. You cannot get by on that," Alma Ceretta said.

Read more and SEE VIDEO

The group wants to raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15/hour by 2026.

By 10/11 Now
KOLN-TV (10/11 - CBS), July 7, 2022. Also WOWT-TV NBC 6 (Omaha), KNOP-TV NBC 2 (North Platte), KSNB NBC 4 (Hastings)

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Raise the Wage Nebraska (RTWN) submitted petitions containing more than 150,000 signatures to the Nebraska Secretary of State on Thursday. ...

“Raising the minimum wage is a win/win for businesses and workers,” said Dave Titterington, owner of Wild Bird Habitat Stores in Lincoln and Omaha. “When you pay employees a living wage, they’re happier, they’re more dedicated, and they’re more productive. And raising the minimum wage will enable workers to spend more at local businesses all across Nebraska.” ...

By Don Walton and Chris Dunker
Lincoln Journal Star, July 7, 2022 

... Raise the Wage Nebraska had its own news conference earlier Thursday where it announced it had gathered more than 160,000 signatures on a petition to gradually raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026. That's nearly double the required number of signatures it needed. It also said it had gathered names from voters in all 93 counties across the state. ...

The campaign also found backing from several business owners, who said ensuring workers could earn a livable wage produced better employees, which was better for their companies.

By Paul Hammel
Nebraska Examiner, July 7, 2022. Also in the North Platte Post, Hastings Tribune, Norfolk Daily News, Doniphan Herald.

LINCOLN — Leaders for an initiative to raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 said Thursday they had submitted 160,000 signatures to qualify the issue for the November ballot.

About 87,500 signatures of registered voters are needed to put the issue before voters, so 160,000 should be more than enough to qualify. About 10% to 15% of signatures are typically thrown out on petition drives, for various reasons, such as the signers not being registered to vote, election officials have said. ...

By Jessica Salinas
Fox 42, Omaha, July 7, 2022

Omaha, Neb. — Today, Raise the Wage Nebraska is one step closer to being on the November ballot. They turned in more than double the signatures they needed. This initiative is looking to raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour by 2026.

WATCH VIDEO for interview with Raygun LLC owner Mike Draper.

By  Art Raymond
Deseret News, July 2, 2022. Also KSL radio (Salt Lake City).

As record high U.S. inflation continues to have the most severe impacts on lower income individuals and families, new hourly minimum wage standards went into effect on Friday in 20 states, cities and counties across the country.

While minimum wage thresholds are now above the $7.25 per hour federal minimum in 30 states and the District of Columbia, 20 states, including Utah, continue to match the federal rate, which has remained unchanged since it moved from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour back in 2009. ...

Some states have adopted simple base rate changes to their minimum wage laws while others have tied minimum wage rates to cost of living increases.

By Michael Lyle
Nevada Current, July 1, 2022. Also Nevada Patch, News from the States

As Nevadans struggle to afford rising costs and skyrocketing rents, minimum wage workers will receive a slight bump in their pay. Beginning July 1, the state’s minimum wage increases to $10.50, up from $9.75, for workers not offered health coverage. Employees offered health care will now make $9.50, up from $8.75. 

Nevada’s wage increase is lower than other places scheduled to see a boost to wages July 1, according to the national organization Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

By Aimee Picchi
CBS News MoneyWatch, June 30, 2022

Workers in more than 20 states, cities and counties will get a wage boost on July 1 when higher minimum wages kick in — part of a nationwide push to ensure the nation's lowest-paid workers are keeping up with the rising cost of living. ...

The hikes come as the federal minimum wage nears the 13th anniversary of its last increase, marking the longest period without an increase since the baseline wage was created in 1938. There are still 20 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, where the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour serves as the wage floor. ...

By Emma Ockerman
MarketWatch, June 30, 2022. Also MSN, Morningstar, more

Starting July 1, workers in several states will be entitled to a higher minimum wage.

Thanks to a law enacted three years ago, Connecticut residents who currently make $13 an hour will get a raise to $14. Meanwhile, non-tipped workers in In Washington, D.C., will start making an hourly wage of $16.10. Oregon workers will also start to earn a minimum wage of $13.50, though, due to a tiered-wage system, rural residents will earn a dollar less and Portland metro residents will earn $1.25 over the standard wage. And in Nevada, wages will jump to $10.50 for workers without health benefits and $9.50 for workers with benefits.

It’s a move some advocates and businesses are celebrating.

By Tom Beck
Chestnut Hill Local (PA), June 15, 2022

Pennsylvania Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier visited The Night Kitchen Bakery & Cafe in Chestnut Hill June 9 to promote raising of the state’s minimum wage, which is currently at the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. The wage hasn’t been raised since 2009. ...

Amy Edelman, who co-owns The Night Kitchen with her husband, John Millard, and pays her employees about $15 per hour on average with benefits, said she hosted the event because when people earn more, they have more money to spend.

“Workers are also customers,” Edelman said. “When the minimum wage goes up, workers have more money to spend at businesses like ours.”

MyChesCo (Chester County, PA), June 11, 2022

Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Jennifer Berrier on Thursday continued her statewide push for legislative action to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage during a visit to Philadelphia’s Night Kitchen Bakery & Cafe, a business that supports Governor Tom Wolf’s proposal to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour with a pathway to $15.