BFMW In the News

By Caroline Kelly
CNN, November 9, 2018

...Voters in both Arkansas and Missouri, two states that went strongly for President Donald Trump in 2016, passed ballot initiatives to increase the state minimum wage during Tuesday's midterm elections.

Initiatives in Florida, Nevada and North Dakota are already in the works for the presidential ballot in 2020. ...Minimum wage ballot initiatives have also won handily in red and purple states, such as South Dakota, Nebraska and Arizona, in the past two election cycles.

Feet on the ground

More than 700 Missouri businesses supported the measure ...

By Max Brantley, Arkansas Blog
Arkansas Times, Nov 9, 2018

Article starts with Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Graphic Quoting Capi Peck, Trio's Restaurant

By Raquel Harrington
KY3 TV News (NBC, Springfield, MO), Nov 8, 2018

Minimum wage workers in Missouri AND Arkansas, should be expecting larger paychecks starting next year.

I think it's pretty clear that it's pretty hard to live off minimum wage," said B2 Cafe employee Haley Ankely. After Tuesdays elections, it just may get a little easier, with the minimum wage going up to $8.65 an hour at the first of the year.

However, one local business owner says he already has to pay more than the state's lowest wage.

Times Record (Fort Smith, AR), Nov 8, 2018

Over 68 percent of Sebastian County voters approved state Issue 5 on Tuesday that calls for a gradual minimum wage hike to $11 an hour by 2021. ...

“Arkansas business owners know the minimum wage has been too low for too long and needs a boost,” Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said in a news release. “They understand the connection between a strong wage floor and strong consumer demand, which is why they support Issue 5. Workers are also customers, and increased pay means increased consumer buying power, as well as lower employee turnover and improved productivity.”

By Heather Long
Washington Post, November 8, 2018

Photo Caption: Capi Peck, second from right, huddles with some of her kitchen crew right before the busy lunch period begins at Trio's Restaurant in Little Rock. Peck has owned Trio's for 32 years and was an outspoken supporter of the campaign to raise Arkansas' minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2021.

By Ray Scherer
News-Press Now, Nov 8, 2018

Social service agencies and employers are among those already displaying a keen interest in how Missouri’s amended minimum wage law is implemented next year. ...

A Downtown business owner said placing more money in people’s pockets for spending in the economy can only reap the best of results.

“I think it’s going to be great in the long term for our community and our state,” said Dana Massin, owner of Manic Snail: Paper & Gifts, 618 Francis St.

By Suzanne Potter
Missouri News Service, Nov 8, 2018

(Springfield) -- Supporters of a higher minimum wage, clean elections and medical marijuana are looking at the next steps to implement the ballot initiatives, while warning politicians not to try to undermine them.

The minimum wage will now rise from $7.85 to $8.60 an hour starting Jan. 1, and will go up 85 cents a year until 2023, when it hits $12 an hour, with cost-of-living increases kicking in annually after that.

By Erin DeJesus
Eater, Nov 7, 2018

Voters in Arkansas and Missouri resoundingly approved ballot measures that will increase minimum wage for low-paid workers, including those in the restaurant industry.

Missouri’s Proposition B, which passed with 62 percent of the vote, will gradually increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.85 per hour to $12 per hour by 2023. Arkansas’s Issue 5, which passed with 68 percent of the vote, will increase wages from $8.50 an hour to $11 an hour by 2021. ...

In a press release, Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a nonpartisan organization that advocated for both ballot measures, said the minimum wage boost would boost local economies. “Business owners in two red states came out strongly in support of raising the minimum wage,” she said. “That speaks volumes.”

By Taya White
Columbia Missourian, Nov 7, 2018

The response from several small businesses in Columbia to an increase in the state’s minimum wage was largely positive Wednesday. ...

“I’m strongly in favor of Prop B,” said Joe Chevalier, who owns Yellow Dog Bookshop on Ninth Street. “I already pay my employees above minimum wage.” ...

Out of 10 businesses contacted, only two said they were not in favor of the wage increase. ...

Downtown business owners and employees recognized the ripple effect of the wage increase on the Missouri economy.

By Rosie Belson
KBIA (NPR), Columbia, Nov 7, 2018

Proposition B on the Missouri ballot, which sought to raise the state's minimum wage, passed Tuesday by over 60 percent. ...

"We hope that this is enough to start destressing the lives of some of the lowest paid workers in the state," said Lew Prince, the state coordinator for the Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

By Samuel King
KRCU (NPR), Southeast Missouri, Nov 7, 2018

A little more than a year after the Missouri General Assembly stymied Kansas City’s effort to raise the minimum wage, state voters said it’s time for an increase. ...

"I think they recognize that the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with our current society," said Pam Hausner, a campaign manager for Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. "Our buying power now is equivalent to what it was in 1960. So costs are going up but wages aren't. And that has to be remedied."

By  Wesley Brown
Talk Business & Politics, November 6, 2018

Arkansans strongly backed all three of the constitutional amendments that made this year’s ballot, which were measures requiring voters to show ID at the polls, raise the state minimum wage standards to $11 an hour and turning the Natural State’s low-key gaming operations into a high-stakes, tax revenue-generating gambling enterprise. ...

By Samuel King
KCUR (NPR), Kansas City, Nov 6, 2018

A little more than a year after the Missouri General Assembly stymied Kansas City’s effort to raise the minimum wage, state voters said it’s time for an increase. Proposition B passed in Tuesday’s midterm election, meaning the minimum wage will gradually increase to $12 an hour by 2023. ...

By Heather Long
Washington Post, November 4, 2018

Voters in Arkansas and Missouri will decide Tuesday whether to significantly raise the minimum wage in their state. The two states, both of which went heavily for President Trump in 2016, offer a test case of whether there is appetite in solidly red states for a minimum wage above $10.

By Joe Rios
KTTS 94.7 FM Country, Nov 4, 2018

On Tuesday, voters in Missouri will decide whether to raise the state’s minimum wage with the Proposition B initiative. ...

Raise Up Missouri, who’s for a raise in the wage, says if you look at individual businesses and business leaders they will tell you they support a minimum wage and that there are over 600 small businesses across the state that endorse Proposition B. ...

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