Five citizen’s initiatives will appear on Portland’s ballot in November. Four of those initiatives, including one to create an $18…
Browsing: Minimum wage
Last week, the Maine Democratic Socialists of America rushed to file paperwork with the City of Portland that set in…
The Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) recently announced it had filed paperwork with the city of…
On January 1, Maine’s minimum wage increased to $12.75 per hour. The increase is the result of a law passed…
My son recently underwent what was once a common rite of passage: his first job. He now balances the demands…
The Maine Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the state’s minimum wage will increase by 60 cents on January 1,…
The bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 123-23 and the Senate by a vote of 32-3. It received bipartisan support in both chambers.
In recent years, a number of economic studies have concluded that small to moderate increases in the minimum wage do…
A new “Hero Pay” mandate in Long Beach, California has inadvertently cost some frontline grocery workers their jobs. “Ralphs and…
President Joe Biden is pushing a federal $15 minimum wage in his sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, and the…
On Thursday night, Joe Biden rolled out a sweeping proposal for $1.9 trillion more in COVID-19 relief and stimulus spending. …
It’s no secret that restaurants have been particularly impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns and economic restrictions, both in Maine and across…
Just before the holidays, the legislature released a list of all legislator and department/agency bill requests submitted before cloture, the…
The controversy over a hazardous-duty supplement to the minimum wage required by the recent referendum results in Portland is only…
Portland residents approved on November 3 an ordinance that increases the city’s minimum wage from $12 an hour to $15…
Portland voters approved Question A on their local ballots last week, an initiative opposed by the city’s mayor and most…
The Portland Press Herald’s editorial board isn’t buying what the Southern Maine Democratic Socialists of America are selling, and it’s…
On January 1, the state’s minimum wage and overtime exemption thresholds increased by more than nine percent. More specifically, the…
In addition to resolutions, 2020 brings new changes to state and local laws. Some examples include an increase to the…
Advocates of a higher minimum wage rarely appeal to scholarly research to bolster their case. Instead, you’re more likely to…
The Maine Legislature next session will consider another bill that would be harmful to Maine’s small business community and employers…
A $15 federal minimum wage would wipe out 1.3 million low-income jobs and boost the wages of at least 17…
Lawmakers in Augusta have proposed a spate of bills this session in an attempt to mitigate the negative effects of…
As a small business owner, I know firsthand that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.…
They say elections have consequences, and in the case of the minimum wage law that passed by referendum in 2016,…
Despite widespread opposition throughout the state among all levels of restaurant staff, big labor continues its attempt to strip Maine service workers of their ability to earn a living by eliminating the tip credit.
In an article published Thursday on the Maine Beacon – the online opinion service of the Maine People’s Alliance –…
Last month, the Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) published a study on the minimum wage in Maine, arguing that its…
The standard objection to increasing the minimum wage is that it will result in more unemployment for low-skilled workers. But…
Medicaid expansion is the law, and I am committed to implement it. But I am forced to veto LD 837.…
After years of its status as a beacon of opportunity for young people, the city of Seattle is experiencing troublesome…
Maine’s progressives have been selling the benefits of the minimum wage increase using faulty analysis. Don’t buy the hype. Our…
Earlier this year, the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-wing think tank, published an article written by its budget…
We need to make sure that employees in Maine do not see the same cut in pay that’s happening to…
Advocates claim that by raising the minimum wage, hard-working Mainers working in these positions will be better off, as they…
This article was originally published in the Sun Journal. Nearly two years ago I decided to run for office with…
Maine employers have been struggling to meet the demands of Question 4 since its passage. The initial swell in 2017…
This article first appeared on InsideSources.com As the Golden Globes Awards made a long overdue attempt to atone for a…
In 2016, Maine voters approved Question 4, a measure that incrementally increases Maine’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by…
In today’s world, and especially in rural Maine, finding work without prior experience can be tough, particularly for teenagers and…
After Question 4 passed at the ballot box last November, an organization called the Restaurant Workers of Maine was formed.…
There are numerous anecdotal reasons that conservatives oppose raising the minimum wage. Doing so increases labor costs for companies, which…
The Restaurant Workers of Maine received a major victory Tuesday when the Maine House gave initial approval to LD 673,…
My faith in government was restored yesterday when the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee (LCRED) voted 11-2 in…
It’s a busy and important day for conservatives in Augusta, where the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development (LCRED) Committee…
Question 4, a citizen initiative passed by Maine voters in 2016, increased the minimum wage in Maine from $7.50/hour in…
Question 4 is a bad idea for many reasons. I find it highly unlikely that the individuals who gathered signatures…
Don’t look now – but Maine’s economy is powering ahead and proving that November’s minimum wage ballot initiative is completely…
A few weeks ago, Greg Dougal and Adam Lee each presented their viewpoints on Question 4, the minimum wage referendum,…
The debate over the November ballot initiative to raise the statewide minimum wage has just started – but supporters of this…
Something I will occasionally do while going through checkout at a store is ask the cashier what he or she…
Recently, advocates of increasing Maine’s minimum wage published a study highlighting the alleged benefits of raising Maine’s minimum wage to…
In the last few months, The Maine Wire has drawn attention to the dangers of Question 4, a proposal on…
The debate on whether or not voters should increase Maine’s minimum wage continues, but now liberals pushing for it are…
Maine’s third-largest industry is tourism. At a size of approximately $2.2 billion and more than 85,000 jobs tied to the…
Yesterday, Secretary Dunlap announced the ballot order of referendum questions for the upcoming November 8, 2016 election. The order was…
I have lived in Maine for sixteen years. When I first moved here, I learned of the referendum process, also…
Imagine you’re a Maine reporter. And imagine you get the following press releases: Environmentalists for Open Pit Mining submit 10,000…
On Monday, June 13, 2016, the Maine Department of Labor formally submitted public comments to Secretary of State Matt Dunlap…
Do you ever wonder what the other side’s playbook looks like in Augusta? Well, recently we got our hands on…
We have made progress to lower the income tax, fight the drug epidemic, create jobs and get Mainers more involved…
New England, on the whole, is an economically-depressed region. Between 2004 and 2014, the average cumulative growth of a New…
As The Maine Wire has repeatedly shown here, here and here, proponents of a minimum wage increase in Maine seem more…
The Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) is leading an aggressive push to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour. You would…
On April 15 Nathan Strout’s “Fuzzy Math in Push for Raising the Minimum Wage” questioned how deeply the Maine Peoples…
As I watch the campaign to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour unfold, one question comes to mind:…
This fall, the voters of Maine may be treated to not one but two different ballot proposals to raise the…
As I’m sure you already know, certain politicians in the state of Maine, led by the Maine People’s Alliance, wish…
For the life of me I can’t understand why anyone would have the mentality to impose a citizens referendum question in Maine…
Proponents of a higher minimum wage, led by the Maine People’s Alliance, have gathered enough signatures to put their $12…
A coalition comprised of three liberal political entities in the state of Maine have cashed in enough signatures with the…
An effort to raise the minimum wage in Portland to $15/hour was defeated last week, representing an important victory for…
On Tuesday, voters in Portland rightfully shot down a ballot question that would have increased the city’s minimum wage to…
Last week , after over forty years in business, A Maine institution closed in Manchester, Maine. Ballard Meats and Seafood…
Can individual municipalities in Maine assess their own minimum wage, or is that the job of our elected officials in…
Gov. Paul LePage’s call for restrictions on towns setting their own specific minimum wages doesn’t go far enough. The minimum…
On Monday, the Maine State Legislature will host public hearings on bill requests made by members of the Maine House…
On Thursday, the Portland Green Independent Committee announced that it will be pushing to double the minimum wage in Maine’s…
Tell me if you’ve heard this one. A self-identifying progressive city, a home to a vibrant community of artists and…
At its best, research can be the backbone of policymaking. It can provide the numbers that illuminate problems for lawmakers…
There is no denying that the low wages earned by Maine people are a major concern for state policy makers.…
Is It Chilly in Here? The United States Department of Agriculture threatened to cut funding to Maine’s food stamp program over…
AUGUSTA – The Democratic candidate running against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins told reporters at a Thursday press conference she…
Advocates for a big increase in the minimum wage say Maine’s poor will benefit, but some Maine small business owners…
This week, a Portland task force will hear final discussions on Mayor Michael Brennan’s proposal to increase the city’s minimum…
In 2013, minimum-wage increases were associated with increases in unemployment and decreases in job growth, with teenagers hit especially hard,…
The Do-Nothing Democrats in Augusta have two months and twenty days remaining before the Legislature must adjourn and still have…
From the House Republican Office: AUGUSTA – Well, there they go again. Yesterday, Democrats were telling parents that their kids…
AUGUSTA – Amid Friday’s debate over whether to raise Maine’s minimum wage law, some Democrats fear doing so might make…