Starting next week, Maine voters will see television advertisements featuring several of the more than 600 Maine small business owners that support the campaign to raise the state’s minimum wage.
You probably already know that hundreds of Maine small business owners publicly support this year’s referendum to raise Maine’s minimum wage to $12 by 2020 and to gradually increase wages for tipped workers as well.
Main Street Alliance (MSA), a national organization committed to providing a voice for small business owners, today released the results of a survey of over 1,000 small business owners on varied public policy issues.
On Wednesday, small business owners gathered at The Briar Patch bookstore on Central Street in Bangor to announce their support for the campaign to place a minimum wage increase on the ballot in 2016.
Jim Wellehan, owner of Lamey-Wellehan Shoes, who signed the application on behalf of the Maine Small Business Coalition, explained that raising the minimum wage will provide a boost for local Maine businesses, who often pay higher salaries and are forced to compete with out-of-state corporations paying poverty wages.