BFMW In the News

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.

Op-Ed By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage
...In February 1968, the federal minimum wage increased to $1.60 an hour, giving minimum wage workers what would turn out to be the highest level of purchasing power they would enjoy for the next 50 years. ...

By Scott Dance
The Baltimore Sun, Jan 15, 2018

A coalition of Democrats, union leaders and workers launched a campaign to raise Maryland’s minimum hourly wage to $15 on Monday, saying they chose to do so on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to carry on his message of justice and fairness.

By Bob Stephens
Colorado Springs Business Journal, January 5, 2018

Controversy surrounded Colorado’s minimum wage increase even before it passed in the November 2016 election, and that hasn’t changed more than a year later as local business owners remain divided on the subject. About 55 percent of Colorado voters were in favor of Amendment 70, which incrementally raises the state’s minimum wage from $8.31 in 2016 to $12 by 2020. ...

By Meg Bantle
The Valley Advocate, Jan 2, 2018

... For labor activists, 2018 could be the year they get a measure for a $15 minimum wage before Massachusetts voters, which would mean the state would join California and New York, which have already passed $15 minimum wage legislation. ...

Some business owners in the Pioneer Valley and beyond support the minimum wage increase and have already started to make adjustments internally to afford the added cost.

By Lourdes Hurtado
Noticias Telemundo, Jan 1, 2018

Carlos Álvarez, Founder of Boulder Transport, says raising the minimum wage is an important first step.

Aunque 18 estados lo incrementarán y más de cuatro millones de trabajadores se beneficiarán, en Florida y Nueva Jersey este se mantendrá por debajo de los diez dólares ...

Read more and Watch

By Mitchell Hartman
Marketplace, January 1, 2018 

As of today, 18 states and 20 cities have new higher minimum wage requirements. The changes affect roughly 4.5 million workers. The wage hikes run across the country, from Maine to California. Then you have cities doing their own thing, setting a higher local minimum wage than the state overall. That’s happening in Minneapolis, Tacoma, Flagstaff, Palo Alto, Albuquerque – the list goes on. ...

By Ben Miller
Denver Business Journal, Dec 29, 2017

Colorado's minimum wage is going up 99 cents per hour on Monday. In November 2016, Colorado voters approved Amendment 70, a plan to raise the wage for any non-tipped worker in the state from $8.31 per hour to $12 an hour in three steps by 2020. On Monday, the minimum wage will go up to $9.30 per hour. ...

“As a longtime fiscal conservative, I see raising the minimum wage as smart business and good government. ... Raising the minimum wage rewards work and levels the playing field by expecting businesses to compete fairly and not count on taxpayers to subsidize them.” said Edwin Zoe, owner of Zoe Ma Ma restaurants in Denver and Boulder, in a statement.

By Chris Horvatits
WIVB News 4 Buffalo, December 29, 2017

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A new year brings a new minimum wage in New York State. On Sunday, the general minimum wage will increase from $9.70 an hour to $10.40 an hour. It’s part of an eventual increase to $15 an hour ...

Prish Moran feels differently. She’s “100 percent supportive” of a $15 minimum wage. She owns Sweet_ness 7 Cafe on Grant Street in Buffalo. Moran says she already pays her workers a higher wage.

By Andrew Soergel
US News & World Report, Dec. 27, 2017

One of the primary selling points GOP lawmakers used to pitch their upcoming tax overhaul was the legislation's potential to boost take-home pay for the American middle class. But on Jan. 1, low-wage workers in more than a dozen states and in several individual cities will see their paychecks rise for an entirely different reason: minimum wage upticks that have become increasingly common as progressive groups push for more substantial government-mandated wage floors.

"Raising the minimum wage puts money in the pockets of workers who most need to spend it – boosting business and the economy from the bottom up," Holly Sklar, the CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said in a statement last week. ...

By Eric Rosenbaum
CNBC, Dec 23, 2017

Let's make one thing clear: It's hard to beat "Show me the money." More money going to American workers in the form of bonuses and higher wages for the lowest-paid on the labor ladder are good things — minimum wage increases, in particular. Unlike the individual tax cuts that are set to expire in less than a decade and one-time bonuses, a wage increase is more money in the worker's pocket that's not going away. ...

By Sharon Dunn
Greeley Tribune, December 23, 2017

... Per Amendment 70, passed in 2016, the minimum wage increased $1 to $9.30 an hour this year; for 2018, the minimum wage will increase to $10.20 an hour; and to $7.18 an hour for tipped employees. The minimum wage will automatically increase each year until it hits $12 and $8.98 for tipped employees by 2020; afterward, annual increases will again be tied to inflation.

By Katerina Chryssafis
Western Slope Now, Dec 22, 2017 

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - ... As soon as the first of the year hits, minimum wage will increase from $9.30 to $10.20. ...

"I know that if my employees have more money, there's more money going into the community," said Barbara Roberts, Co-Owner at Five 60 Salon.

She believes if other people have more money, that'll mean more business for her salon.

"It can be a good thing if all of our boats rise at the same rate," she said. ...

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, Dec 19, 2017

... Minimum wage

With Trump in office and a GOP-controlled Congress, there's little hope for a hike in the federal minimum wage, which has been stagnant at $7.25 an hour since 2009. ... But nonetheless, pay is rising around the country.

In [Jan] 2017, 19 states raised wages based on ballot measures and legislation from previous years, and in 2018, 18 more states will raise their wages, according to Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, an advocacy group in favor of higher pay.