Advocates for a higher minimum wage hope to use the power of the Internet to garner support for raising the pay floor in Maryland, an effort that fell flat in this year’s legislative session.
Progressive Maryland, the chief organization behind the effort to raise hourly salary rates, launched the online Raise Maryland campaign this week. It calls on citizens to sign a petition to lift the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 per hour over the next three years.
The current rate the lowest allowed by federal law is not enough to support an individual or raise a family, advocates said. Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., have minimum wage levels above the $7.25 federal level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
“It’s disgraceful and shortsighted,” said a Progressive Maryland news release about the campaign’s launch. The group estimates that the state has 300,000 minimum wage workers.
Democratic legislators proposed increasing the lowest hourly payment to $8.25 in 2011, $9 in 2012 and $9.75 in 2013, with future changes tied to the Consumer Price Index.
Activists pointed to research that showed doing so would pump $1 billion into the state economy.
6 comments:
What a terrible idea. Government should not be allowed to legislate wages... the free market should determine a fair wage. When will they understand that when the government gets out of the way that everyone wins. Consumers get a higher quality products at lower prices because of increased competition and entrepreneurial ingenuity. Experienced qualified workers benefit from better working conditions and higher wages, and businesses flourish based on the quality of their work and their products/ingenuity?
Do these morons really think that businesses won't leave the state or cut low wage employees? Do they care?
Government encourages the use of foreign workers over Americans because employers (even Government) do not have to pay unemployment taxes. Therefore, this effort does nothing more than raise the wages for foreign workers. Further, foreign workers are exempt from income taxes so taxation of Americans gets increased to make up the difference.
Government needs to mandate that employers pay unemployment taxes for ALL workers.
the "socialist republic of maryland" just can't seem to stop their meddleing.
enough is enough !!!!! stay out of our homes and our businesses now !! you are foever making things worse than worse. how stupid can you get?? how idiotic can you be ???
the powers that be in maryland need to get a real job and leave us alone. problem is, they probably can't get a real job because they don't have any business knowledge, job skills or common sense.
they wouldn't know when to get out of the rain or how to fight their way out of a paper bag.
we are already down near the bottom of the food chain regarding new jobs. we are not a business friendly state and they just won't stop.
We have too many people that wouldn't even get the minimum in a free market wage economy.....
It;s a trade off. first if you've health insurance, your cost will go up, to match the increased minimum wage. or, you will lose your job, as employers aren't going to pay it, since they can't raise prices and stay competative.. it's a lose lose situation raisng the minimum wage.
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