As small business owners, we advocate for policies that promote responsible economic development, environmental stewardship, and investment in community. We are the backbone of Maine’s economy, and we help provide a political voice for Maine’s small business community. We believe that good economic policy works both for small business owners and the customers they serve.
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.
The Maine Small Business Coalition (MSBC) launched a series of statewide advertisements on local radio, expressing the frustration of small business owners with House Republicans’ insistence on a state budget that cuts taxes for the wealthiest Mainers.
MSBC has officially endorsed the ballot campaign, sponsored by our partners at Maine People’s Alliance, to raise the minimum wage in Maine to $12 per hour by 2020, index it to the cost of living thereafter, and increase the minimum wage for tipped workers to $5 per hour, then by a dollar a year until it matches the minimum wage for all other workers by 2024.
Are you with us? Sign up here as a public supporter of this minimum wage referendum.
On Monday, the Maine Small Business Coalition held a roundtable discussion in Portland with local small business owners, State Representative Denise Tepler (D-Topsham), and budget analyst Joel Johnson of Maine Center for Economic Policy about state budget proposals being considered by the legislature.
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.