Politics & Government

State Mulling Highest Minimum Wage in America

Massachusetts is considering a raise for those making minimum wage.

The commonwealth's lowest-paid workers may be in for a raise. State Senate President Therese Murray proposed increasing the minimum wage from $8 to $11 over three years, according to the Boston business Journal. The bill would phase in the increase over two years, meaning the $11 rate would take effect in 2016. The bill, proposed last week, may hit the Senate floor for a vote on Tuesday. If enacted, it would give Massachusetts workers the highest minimum wage in the country.

Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo may bump the brakes in his own chamber, however. He has indicated that he wants to tie employer unemployment payment system reforms to the minimum wage bill, according to WGBH. That would almost certainly push the bill off to the next legislative session.

Activists, meanwhile, are not waiting for the House and Senate to make up their minds. Raise Up Boston announced Monday that it has gather 250,000 signatures for their minimum wage ballot question. The ballot question, if enacted, would raise the minimum wage to $10.15 and then tie it to inflation. It would also raise the minimum wage for tipped workers from $2.63 to $6.30. 

Retailers are not happy about the sudden desire to increase the minimum wage. In addition to the burden the extra salary would put on their businesses, many said the increase would hurt teenage workers the most, according to the Boston Herald


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