BFMW In the News

By Deb Belt
Patch Virginia, Dec 27, 2022

Some workers across Virginia will see an increase in pay beginning next week, as the state moves toward a minimum wage of $15 per hour ... The current rate of pay for minimum wage workers across Virginia is $11 per hour and the new minimum wage will increase to $12 on Sunday. ...

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage coalition noted that most business owners are in favor of the increases as they'll help boost consumer spending, strengthen local economies and help improve employee hiring, retention and productivity.

By Erin Bamer
Omaha World Herald, Dec 25, 2022

INCOLN — Nebraskans earning the lowest wages in the state will start the new year with a pay raise. On Jan. 1, the state’s minimum wage will rise from $9 per hour to $10.50 per hour. It’s the first increase in a series of gradual raises that will take the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 in line with a ballot initiative that passed in November. ...

Dave Titterington, who owns two Wild Bird Habitat Stores in Lincoln, already pays his employees above minimum wage. The minimum he pays his 10-12 employees is $12 an hour ...

By Business for a Fair Minimum Wage
Nebraska Rural Radio Association, Dec. 22, 2022

On Jan. 1, Nebraska’s minimum wage will increase from $9 to $10.50 as the first step under Initiative 433, passed by voters in November. Business owners across the state say the minimum wage increase will boost consumer spending and strengthen Nebraska’s workforce and local businesses.

With the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour (unchanged for 13 years and counting), states across the country continue to take matters into their own hands. The latest to join the party is Nebraska, where voters passed an initiative in November’s elections to gradually raise the minimum wage there to $15 per hour by 2026. ... Nebraska joins 27 states plus Washington, D.C., that also have increases scheduled for 2023 as part of initiatives to up their minimum wages passed in recent years.

The bumps are the fruit of years-long efforts from activists and one of the groups, called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, argues that the increases also make business sense by boosting consumer spending and improving employee morale.

Yahoo Finance, Dec 20, 2022

Dave Titterington, owner of Wild Bird Habitat Stores in Nebraska, joins Yahoo Finance Live to explain why he's an advocate for higher minimum wages and passing Nebraska Initiative 433.

By Mark Mulholland
WNYT TV NBC 13, Albany, Dec 15, 2022

Minimum wage is going up in Upstate New York at the end of this month, and some businesses are cheering it on.

The minimum wage for workers outside New York City [Long Island and Westchester County] is $13.20 an hour.  Effective at the end of the year, it goes up to $14.20 an hour. The minimum wage for fast food workers across New York state is a little higher at $15 an hour. ...

Business For a Fair Minimum Wage, a network of business owners who believe a fair wage makes good business sense, is calling for a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour. It’s currently $7.25 an hour and hasn’t increased since 2009.

Amsterdam News, Nov 17, 2022

On Nov. 15, Raise Up NY, Senate Labor Chair Jessica Ramos, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Comptroller Brad Lander gathered to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Fight for $15 with a rally at City Hall, and to launch a new campaign for a $21 minimum wage for New York. 

The coalition, known as Raise Up NY, which includes workers, labor unions, community organizations, and businesses, demanded that the New York State legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul act swiftly to raise New York State’s minimum wage, which has eroded dramatically in recent years as the cost of living has spiraled. ...

By Nebraska Business for a Fair Minimum Wage
Omaha Daily Record, Nov 14, 2022

Nebraska business owners are celebrating the passage of Initiative 433, saying raising the minimum wage will boost consumer spending, strengthen Nebraska’s workforce, and bolster local businesses. Initiative 433 will gradually raise the state minimum wage by $1.50 a year until it reaches $15 in 2026.

By  Isabella Basco
KMTV (CBS 3 Omaha). Nov 10, 2022. Also Yahoo News.

... Hundreds of businesses supported the decision to raise the minimum wage. They joined a coalition saying so. ...

When Lindsey Clements opened her business, Vis Major Brewing in Omaha, she was paying her employees $12 an hour. But during the pandemic she decided to start paying her new employees at the starting wage of $16 an hour. I'm able to retain great employees with that. So I'm spending less time trying to hire and train. Having that loyalty and longevity with each of our staff members is a great asset. ...

[Raising the minimum wage] is going to help individuals from all walks of life improve their quality of life. To me, we're well overdue. ...

By Zachary Halaschak
Washington Examiner, Nov 10, 2022

Voters in two states and Washington, D.C., approved ballot measures during this year’s midterm elections that will raise the minimum wage...

In Nebraska, voters approved Initiative 433, which incrementally raises the minimum wage in the ruby-red Cornhusker State from its current $9-per-hour level to $15 over the next four years. ...

Several groups supported the ballot measure, including Nebraska Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, which touted more than 300 businesses as part of its coalition.

By Linda Poon and Amelia Pollard
Bloomberg, Nov 9, 2022

... A slate of ballot measures pertaining to economic inequality were also presented to voters Tuesday, with many of them passing. Initiative 433 in Nebraska will bump the minimum wage of $9 per hour — one of the lowest among states — to $15 per hour, one of the highest, by 2026. The passage in a state as conservative as Nebraska, which elected three Republican representatives to Congress on Tuesday, signals that raising the minimum wage has become a bipartisan issue. 

Nebraska is projected to adopt a $15 minimum wage for workers after support from 59% of voters in the state.

ABC News, Nov 9, 2022

Some business owners, like Amelia Rosser, the owner of Sheelytown Market Garden, say a higher minimum wage would help businesses keep employees.

"I don't want turnover," Rosser said. "I want to have the people here who also want to be doing this forever and working right alongside me in a partnership."

While Rosser is already paying her employees $15 an hour, she hopes voters pass initiative 433. ...

In a public hearing at University of Nebraska Omaha, supporters and opponents made their case. ...

By Jake Johnson
Common Dreams, Nov 9, 2022

Nebraskans voted Tuesday to incrementally raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 as corporate price hikes continue to eat into workers' paychecks and the federal wage floor remains stuck at a paltry $7.25. The ballot measure, known as Initiative 433, succeeded by a vote of 58.2% to 41.8% despite opposition from influential corporate lobbying groups in the state, including the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce. ...

While some Nebraska business organizations campaigned against Initiative 433—trotting out the well-worn and debunked argument that a minimum wage hike would come at the expense of jobs—more than 300 small business owners in the state publicly endorsed the ballot measure.

By Zachary Halaschak
Washington Examiner, Nov 9, 2022

Nebraskans have approved a ballot measure that would gradually increase the state’s minimum wage to $15, making it the latest red state to adopt the policy position long championed by those on the Left. ...

“Raising the minimum wage will enable workers to spend more at local businesses across Nebraska,” said Denise Bowyer of Nebraska Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, according to KETV. ...

Read more

By McKenzie Johnson
KLKN-TV (Channel 8 ABC), Lincoln, Nov 9, 2022

Nebraska workers making less than $15 an hour will be seeing a pay bump in the near future. But what do businesses think of this new wage increase? ...

Steph Terry, director of operations and human relations for Morrow Collision Center, said this is something that could benefit everyone.

“We’ve found that over the years, paying our employees a fair wage just increases their quality of work,” she said. “It makes them more loyal to us as a company and it also just increases morale. It also helps our employees stick around a lot longer.”

Terry said they had to raise their wages a while ago and they’re already hiring above the $15 mark.