The saga continues in Baltimore with the proponents of a 71.4% minimum wage increase collecting 7 of 11 votes cast by the 15 member Baltimore city council to advance the bill to a final vote coming on Monday. Of the 4 councilors not voting, 3 abstained and the fourth was absent from the vote this…
Read More »Last Friday, by a 10-2 vote, the Minneapolis City Council killed a minimum wage charter amendment that advocates planned to see on the November ballot. The council majority agreed with the legal analysis of City Attorney Susan Segal that the measure did not meet legal requirements and that minimum wage mandates must be implemented by…
Read More »The Baltimore City Council is set to decide next month whether it will mandate a city minimum wage of $15 per hour. Last week, the City Council’s Labor Committee unanimously voted to send the bill to the full council for a vote. Council President “Jack” Young is staunchly opposed to a $15 minimum as a…
Read More »She has said she won’t budge on a $15 per hour minimum wage bill she’s sponsored in Baltimore, so Councilwoman Mary Pat Clark introduced an amendment last week to exempt all businesses with 50 or fewer employees or less than $500,000 in gross annual revenue from the mandate. Ostensibly, she is looking for a way…
Read More »Although most of the states’ automatic minimum wage increases are effective on the first day of either January or July every year, there are exceptions and Minnesota is one of them. The Gopher State has a two-tiered minimum wage, with the tier determined by the annual sales of a business. Effective Monday, August 1, the…
Read More »It is now official, voters in two more states will be asked this fall whether their minimum wages should be increased. This past Monday, advocates in Colorado submitted over 200,000 signatures, more than double the required 98,492, to place the question of mandating an increase in the state minimum wage on the November ballot. The…
Read More »Like the successful auctioneer, advocates for increasing the minimum wage across the country just won’t settle on a number until the last of the “bidders” has fallen silent. The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROCU) is one of the union-funded front groups that have been instrumental in singling out and targeting the restaurant industry for minimum…
Read More »As a case in point that minimum wage hikes are never enough, a few months ago, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney asked for businesses operating at the city-owned Philadelphia International Airport to raise the minimum pay for all full- or part-time workers there to $12 per hour. After much negotiation, agreement was finally reached and new…
Read More »Down the road from Philadelphia and against the wishes of City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young, the Baltimore City Council Labor Committee has indicated initial approval for an ordinance that will mandate a $15/hour minimum wage by 2022. At Tuesday’s work session on the proposal, Council President Young advised the committee that he would not…
Read More »Elsewhere, we note that minimum wage in Minnesota will increase effective August 1 for both small and larger employers. Minnesota provides for two different minimums based on the size of the employer business. Large employers (at least $500,000 gross annual revenues) will be required to pay $9.50 per hour beginning next month, while small employers…
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