BFMW In the News

By Samantha Bernt
10/11 NOW (Lincoln), Nov. 7, 2022. Also KNOP-TV (NBC 2) North Platte, NBC Nebraska Scottsbluff, KSNB-TV (NBC 4) Hastings.

One of the two initiatives for voters on Tuesday’s ballot will be to decide if Nebraska should raise minimum wage. ...

“For years now, wages just have not caught up with the cost of living and it makes it very difficult for families raising children who have to make the difficult decisions to put food on the table or pay their rent,” said Kate Wolfe, campaign manager for Raise the Wage Nebraska.

By Alma Cerretta
Lincoln Journal Star, Letter to Editor, Nov 2, 2022. See full op-ed in Omaha World Herald.

As a small business owner, I’m glad that minimum wage is on the ballot.

Initiative 433 gives us all a way to move Nebraska forward by raising the minimum wage.

When we opened Mana Games Café, we knew we wanted to avoid the low-pay, high-turnover, low-morale business model that’s been way too common in our industry – an industry that’s supposed to be about service and hospitality.

Op-Ed By Holly Sklar
Yahoo News, Nov 3, 2022, The Intelligencer (PA), Sep 29, 2022. Also York Daily Record, Bucks County Courier Times, Tri County Record, others in PA. Previously in Birmingham News, Seattle Times, Mobile Press Register, PennLive/Harrisburg Patriot News, many more. Distributed by American Forum.

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for 13 years. That’s just $15,080 a year if you work full time.

Prices are up. Corporate profits hit record highs. But the minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 since the last increase on July 24, 2009.

By Will Bauer
Nebraska Public Media (PBS, NPR), Nov. 3, 2022

On Election Day, Nebraska voters will decide whether the state’s $9 per hour minimum wage should gradually be bumped to $15 or remain the same. ...

"I believe that small businesses can't afford not to pay more because it keeps us competitive,” said Mikaela Krueger, owner of Optika Curated Eyewear in Hastings.

She's also a member of Nebraska Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a coalition of nearly 300 small business owners from across the state who support the initiative. ...

Op-Ed By Alma Cerretta, Owner, Mana Games Cafe

As a small business owner, I’m glad that minimum wage is on the ballot. Initiative 433 gives us all a way to move Nebraska forward by raising the minimum wage. ... Minimum wage increases are a two-way street. More money goes into worker’s paychecks and more money gets spent by workers and their families at local businesses. ...

Letter to Editor By Cinnamon Dokken
Lincoln Journal Star, Oct 28, 2022

You wouldn’t know from the recent article, “Backers, foes of ballot initiatives make final pitch at public hearing,” (Oct. 19) that there is strong business support for Initiative 433. As the owner of A Novel Idea Bookstore in Lincoln, I support raising the minimum wage and provided testimony presented at the hearing. Lincoln businesses Firespring, Moose’s Tooth Outdoor and Cycle Works also testified in support of Initiative 433.

By Taylor Tosheff, Avery Van Etten
ABC27 WHTM (Harrisburg, PA), Oct 28, 2022

October is National Women’s Small Business Month. Although the month is almost over, people can support women-owned businesses year-round.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are more than 13 million women-owned businesses and counting. In 2019, women-owned businesses represented 42% of all U.S. businesses and generated $1.9 trillion of revenue.

Jennie Groff is part owner of Lancaster Sweet Shoppe and Stroopies. Stroopies has an all-women team and employs resettled refugee women living in Lancaster City.

While making the Stroopies — a Dutch stroopwafel — the women are also offered English classes as part of the paid workday. ...

By Pat Caveye
Norfolk News Radio (WJAG 780AM/105.9FM, KQKX 106 KIX, KEXL 97.5FM), Oct 26, 2022

As the election is less than two weeks away, one topic Nebraskans will get to decide is if they want to approve the gradual minimum wage increase to $15 an hour by 2026.

... nearly 300 small business owners and executives have voiced their support for the pay increase.

Wild Bird Habitat store owner Dave Titterington says small businesses need to move their employees out of the expense column and into the investment column, as they are the first people guests meet when entering their business.

By Matt Olberding
Lincoln Journal Star, Oct 25, 2022. Also Grand Island Independent, Scottsbluff Star Herald, North Platte Telegraph, Kearney Hub, Columbus Telegram, Fremont Tribune, Beatrice Daily Sun, York News Times, Sioux City Journal, more

There's disagreement over whether gradually raising Nebraska's minimum wage from its current $9 an hour to $15 an hour is a good thing. ...

Nebraska Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a coalition of more than 300 business owners and executives, has come out strongly in support of the $15 minimum wage.

Nearly 300 Nebraska business owners and executives across the state have gone on record in support of ballot Initiative 433, which would gradually raise Nebraska's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026.

By Erin Bamer
Omaha World Herald, Oct 23, 2022

LINCOLN — Karen Anthony has worked as a home health care provider for 40 years, and in that time she has never earned more than $12 an hour. Her wages aren’t enough to allow her to afford everyday essentials like a car or even groceries. ... Anthony shared her story at the Nebraska State Capitol this past week during a public hearing on a ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. ...

Supporters also argue that increasing pay would encourage workers to put their money right back into the economy, ...

By  Rebecca Heckel
KLKN-TV (8 ABC), Oct 19, 2022

Nebraskans have a chance to raise the minimum wage on Nov. 8, but the ballot initiative has raised concerns about small businesses not being able to afford it. ... But many small businesses in Lincoln have stood in support of the increase, saying it will make the job market more competitive.

“People want to work in a place that feeds their soul as well as their stomachs,” said Cinnamon Dokken, owner of A Novel Idea Bookstore. “It’s essential that they’re able to put food on the tables. This will allow them to do that, and be able to have a greater range of choices of where to work.”

By Owen Reimer
Nebraska News Service, Oct 19, 2022 

A ballot initiative to incrementally raise the Nebraska minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026 stirred debate in the 1st Congressional District’s focused hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at the state capitol. The testimonies were largely in favor of increasing the wage. ...

Some of the testifying proponents, however, were business owners who felt the minimum wage increase would be beneficial, including for improving employee morale.

Cinnamon Dokken, owner of A Novel Idea Bookstore in Lincoln, said she could not get wages as high as she would like without a statewide raise to boost the economy.

By Jack Price
Nebraska News Service, Oct 16, 2022

... Some small businesses in Nebraska have already found success paying their employees higher wages. Wild Bird Habitat Stores, Mana Games and Shirts 101 all start their employees at $15 an hour. 

In October, RAYGUN Clothing, which employs 110 people in locations in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska, will join them. For Mike Draper, the owner and founder, raising his company’s starting wage is common sense.

Draper said the minimum wage is an oddity in the United States because unlike cost of living expenses, taxable income levels or even social security benefits, the minimum wage has remained “frozen in time.”

By Tony Herrman
Hastings Tribune, Oct 15, 2022 

Nebraska voters will act on a ballot measure that proposes a step-by-step program to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2026. ...

Kate Wolfe, campaign manager for Raise the Wage Nebraska, spoke in favor of Initiative 433, as did Small Town Famous owner Jacque Cranson, during a Hastings League of Women Voters forum Friday at the YWCA of Adams County. ...

Cranson and her husband, Matt, own Small Town Famous screen print and embroidery business. There is also a boutique in the front of store. Small Town Famous has locations in Hastings and Grand Island.

She supports raising the minimum wage.