By Michelle Shvimer
Daily Free Press, March 21, 2018

Nearly 300 people gathered to spread a message to their legislators demanding job-protected paid leave and a $15 minimum wage at Boston’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral Tuesday night. ...

Raise Up MA members and supporters counteracted the idea that teenagers should be exempt from the rise in minimum wage during the meeting.

Michael Kanter, the co-founder of Cambridge Naturals, a retail health store, said he is against the idea of a lower minimum wage for teenagers.

“Many teenagers work to take care of their families, save up...

By Steven H. Foskett Jr. 
Worcester Telegram & Gazette, March 20, 2018

WORCESTER - Activists on a statewide “briefing tour” stopped at Belmont A.M.E. Zion Church on Illinois Street Tuesday night to show members of the legislative delegation their continued commitment to raising the minimum wage and providing paid family and medical leave. Organized by Raise Up Massachusetts, the briefing featured testimony from workers and families who would benefit from raising the minimum wage in the state from $11 an hour to $15 an hour, and who would be able to take advantage of a paid...

Columbus Radio Group, March 14, 2018

COLUMBUS – Democratic lawmakers want to give Ohio’s lowest-paid workers a raise, though the proposal faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Statehouse. The legislators, flanked by workers’ advocates and progressive policy experts, announced a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage in 50-cent-an-hour steps to $15 per hour over the next seven years. ...

Business groups have already weighed in with their opposition despite a 2014 survey the lawmakers cited, from the American Sustainable Business Council and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, which found that small business owners...

Fall River Reporter, March 11, 2018

New Bedford, MA – South Coast legislators were met with a message Saturday from the voters gathered at the Carney Academy in New Bedford for a Fall River/New Bedford briefing on paid leave and a $15 minimum wage: “Pass These Bills!” ...

The briefing is part of a statewide tour pushing for passage of paid leave and a $15 minimum wage this spring, with events occurring in the South Coast, Springfield, Lawrence, Worcester, Boston, the North Shore, and Brockton throughout March and early April. Members of the Raise Up...

By Carlos Marquina, March 7, 2018

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland—In a hearing before the House Economic Matters Committee, supporters of a proposed hike in Maryland’s minimum wage argued that the current rate leaves hundreds of thousands of the state’s working families trapped in a cycle of poverty. ...

Story includes Gina Schaefer, owner, A Few Cool Hardware Stores

WATCH VIDEO

By Adam Uzialko
Business.com, Feb 27, 2018

Don't just think of paying more than minimum wage as an expense. It can be an investment in the overall health of your business.

The federal minimum wage, and those mandated by states and localities, represents a requirement for the floor for payment that employers must offer. However, the minimum wage does not always line up with the cost of living in a given area, nor do real wages necessarily rise with productivity or profits.

Many business owners are necessarily concerned with expenses, and fear raising wages could...

By Hank Kalet
NJ Spotlight, Feb 26, 2018

Backers say the benefits of higher minimum wage would benefit both workers and small businesses

... Jon Whiten, vice president of NJPP, a liberal think tank that focuses on economic issues, said during a telephone press conference Thursday that there is a rare "consensus in Trenton" that "raising the minimum wage to a more livable, family-sustaining wage is a top priority." NJPP, hoping to influence the debate and push the state Legislature to move quickly, issued a report Thursday offering data it says supports the need for...

By  Reggie Fullwood 
Jacksonville Free Press, Feb 20, 2018

... We live in the greatest country in the world – a job should be a bridge out of poverty, an opportunity to a make a living from the work or services you provide. But for minimum wage workers, especially those with families, it is not. ...

And for those who think that raising the minimum wage is bad for the economy – that’s nonsense. A number of researchers have found that modestly higher minimum wages can raise incomes for low-wage workers without reducing the number of jobs in...

Op-Ed by Holly Sklar
Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb 9, 2018

This month marks a golden anniversary for wages, but it’s not a happy occasion.

When the federal minimum wage went up 50 years ago in February 1968, it turned out to be the high point in minimum-wage purchasing power for Pennsylvania workers.

Adjusted for the cost of living, the buying power of 1968’s minimum wage of $1.60 an hour is worth $11.53 in today’s dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Inflation Calculator.

By Matt Heckel
ABC 27 News, Feb 5, 2018

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — A push continues at the state Capitol for Pennsylvania to raise the minimum wage. Pennsylvania’s minimum wage currently is $7.25 an hour. Senate Bill 1044 would raise it to $15 an hour over the next six years. ...

John Traynor, the owner of Harrisburg’s Midtown Arts Center, says he currently starts employees at $12 an hour, and it helps the entire community.

“By paying a livable wage and that means they’re able to live in Midtown, able to spend money in Midtown, able...