MA Small Business Owners Support Minimum Wage Increase

BOSTON, Nov. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Business owners support Senate legislation to raise the Massachusetts minimum wage for the first time since 2008. They believe that gradually increasing the minimum wage from its current $8 per hour to $11 by 2016 and then adjusting it annually for inflation would be good for business and the economy.

"Minimum wage workers are more likely to earn their money locally and spend it locally," said David Warner, President and Co-Owner of City Feed and Supply, an award-winning market and cafe with 50 employees. "Raising the wage is good for the workers and good for the local economy. It is an actually true example of an oft-misused cliche - a rising tide can lift all boats."

"I have owned a small business employing 37 people for nearly 23 years," said Rachael Solem, Owner and General Manager of Irving House and Harding House in Cambridge and a recent Massachusetts Lodging Association General Manager of the Year for small properties. "My starting wage is already $10 – leading to a more stable workforce and customer service I'm proud of. This is a reasonable increase in the minimum wage given current and rising costs of living."

"A fair wage goes a long way to creating a productive and sustainable workforce," said David Starr, Co-founder of Berkshire Natural, a vending company, in Northampton. "Paying people a wage that is not sustainable to support themselves causes stress, distraction and a loss of self-esteem."

"Raising the minimum wage makes good business sense," said Holly Sklar, Director of Boston-based Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. "At $8 a hour, minimum wage workers have much less buying power now than their counterparts had in 1968 when the minimum wage was worth $10.77, adjusted for inflation. We can't build a strong economy on a falling wage floor."

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage (BFMW) has a sign-on statement for MA business people supporting a minimum wage increase:

www.businessforafairminimumwage.org/Massachusetts-Minimum-Wage-Statement

BFMW summarizes extensive research that refutes claims that increasing the minimum wage causes increased unemployment in Research Shows Minimum Wage Increases Do Not Cause Job Loss.

* Numerous business owners available for interview. *

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is a Boston-based national network of business owners and executives who believe a fair minimum wage makes good business sense. 

Contact: Bob Keener, 617-610-6766, [email protected]

SOURCE Business for a Fair Minimum Wage