While the leaked communications of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have dominated headlines, another embarrassing disclosure was recently made in Maine. Financial disclosures filed this month with the Maine Ethics Commission show that the state’s leading minimum wage political-action committee, Mainers for Fair Wages, is overwhelmingly funded by non-Mainers. An analysis of the disclosures indicates […]
minimum wage
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Raise the minimum wage? Pro and con
Question 4: Do you want to raise the minimum hourly wage of $7.50 to $9 in 2017, with annual $1 increases up to $12 in 2020, and annual cost-of-living increases thereafter; and do you want to raise the direct wage for service workers who receive tips from half the minimum wage to $5 in 2017, […]
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Posted inLetters
A fair wage for Maine’s future
Being a single parent is difficult. I have been privileged to have held a job where I have always been paid a livable wage. Sadly, many of my peers are not in the same position, and they and their families are suffering. Offering Maine families a livable wage is imperative to Maine’s future. The USDA […]
Posted inLetters
Support for Question 4
I will vote to raise the minimum wage rate in Maine (Question 4). People cannot live on $7.50 per hour. Tipped workers, especially, need a raise to have a decent, stable standard of living. Some companies are already paying more than the minimum wage because they value their workers. Other places, including some where I […]
Posted inLetters
Raise the minimum wage
In November, Maine will have the opportunity to raise the minimum wage for thousands of hardworking people who struggle to meet their basic daily family needs for housing, food, medication, etc. Some will argue against raising the minimum wage, saying that it is an entry level wage or that the folks earning it need to […]
Posted inLetters
Increase the minimum wage
Imagine a family member or friend who works hard at work but barely survives financially because they are earning the state minimum wage or a bit above. Restaurant workers, home care providers, grocery workers, taxi drivers, retail workers and many others face that same dilemma — working hard for poverty wages. Many of those workers […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Republicans offer to raise Maine’s minimum wage this summer
AUGUSTA — Republican lawmakers are pushing a bill to hike the minimum wage this summer, but Democrats say it’s a ploy to undermine a more ambitious minimum wage increase on the November state ballot. The Legislature will vote Friday when they meet to take up a growing number of vetoes by Republican Gov. Paul LePage. […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Business groups ask Legislature for $10 minimum wage by 2020
AUGUSTA (WGME) — Maine’s business community is calling on legislators to act now and raise Maine’s minimum wage. The current legislative session ends this week. The Maine Restaurant and Innkeepers Associations, Retail Association of Maine, the State Chamber of Commerce, and nearly 10,000 other business owners in Maine are behind the plan. These groups want […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
GOP lawmakers want to tie spending plan to alternative minimum wage
AUGUSTA — Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee dug in their heels Wednesday against any new spending this year with one caveat: If Democrats support an alternate minimum wage proposal to the one that will appear on the November ballot, maybe the GOP will come to the negotiating table. Wednesday’s discussion came a day after […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Proposed $12 minimum wage would cost jobs
Proponents of a higher minimum wage in Maine, led by the state AFL-CIO, have gathered enough signatures to put a proposed $12 minimum wage initiative to a vote this November. But does the proposed 60 percent increase in the state’s minimum wage, from $7.50 to $12 per hour by 2020, go too far too fast? […]