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.

They are proposing to reach that wage floor by 2023, a move they say would benefit about 570,000 workers, about a fifth of the state’s work force. They cited data from a United Way study released last year that showed that 35 percent of...

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. ...

Tracy duCharme has a different outlook on the minimum wage increase, arguing that a rising tide lifts all boats. Since 2009 she has owned Color...

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.

At Real Pickles in Greenfield, Founder and General Manager Dan Rosenberg said that their starting wage is currently around $13 an hour...

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAyU7cKTFJI#action=share

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. ...

Read more and Listen

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.

“Not only for my own knowledge of the cost of living,”...

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. ...

A skeptic doesn't need to be a political partisan to wonder about...

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.

The increase, however, will likely affect fewer Greeley employers this year, many who are increasingly paying higher wages to keep their staffs...

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. ...

The minimum wage law in Colorado requires a .90...

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.

"The business case for raising the...

By Ted Hesson
Politico Morning Shift, Dec 18, 2017

... MIN WAGE TO RISE IN 18 STATES: The minimum wage will go up in 18 mostly blue states in 2018 following a wave of ballot referenda and statehouse legislative action over the past several years. Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont have all passed minimum wage increases that go into effect across a period of several years. Eight other states — Alaska, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio and South Dakota — will make automatic adjustments to...

By Elisha Machado
WWLP -22News, Dec. 15, 2017

BOSTON (WWLP)—A ballot question that would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 dollars per hour by 2022 is still in the running for a spot on the 2018 ballot. ...

Massachusetts minimum wage workers currently make $11 per hour. But you could get a chance to decide whether to increase the state’s minimum wage on the 2018 ballot. It’s a proposal supported by more than 200 Massachusetts business owners with the organization “Business for a Fair Minimum Wage,” including Michael Kanter, owner of Cambirdge Naturals. He raised his...

By Shira Schoenberg
MassLive, The Springfield Republican, Dec 7, 2017

Ballot questions that would raise the minimum wage, lower the sales tax, require employers to offer paid family leave and regulate nurse staffing are all expected to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot in 2018. ...

Minimum wage

A coalition of labor leaders, clergy and liberal organizing groups is pushing a question that would raise the minimum wage from $11 to $15 over four years. It would also raise wages for tipped workers from $3.75 an hour plus tips to $9 an hour plus tips...