Minimum wage increase to have little impact, By David Young, December 13, 2010, The Coloradoan: “Servers and minimum wage workers are set to get a slight raise come the first of the year. Colorado’s minimum wage is set to increase 12 cents starting in 2011 bringing the new minimum wage to $7.36. The minimum tipped employee wage will increase to $4.34 from $4.22. The increase is likely to have little impact on employees or employers according to experts. In accordance with the Colorado Constitution, the state’s minimum wage must be adjusted annually for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index used for the state. Federal minimum wage is currently lower than Colorado’s at $7.25 per hour. Federal tipped minimum wage is currently $2.13 per hour. Martin Shields, CSU Regional economist, said that the increase is not much of an impact on the bottom line. The increase amounts to $4.80 in a 40 hour work week…”
Tag: Tipped employees
Gulf Oil Spill and Low-Wage Workers
Don’t ignore low-income spill victims, advocates urge BP, By Deborah Barfield Berry, June 26, 2010, USA Today: “Vicky Townley is waiting to hear whether BP will compensate her for tip income she says she’s lost because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. ‘Things are so slow we’re basically living from paycheck to paycheck, which is not very much,’ said Townley, a bartender in Gulf Shores, Ala., who filed her lost-wages claim three weeks ago. Before the spill, she said, she earned $60 a day in tips during the summer months, which helped in the long slog to rebound from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. ‘Things were just starting to pick up,’ she said. ‘Then the recession, then the oil. What next?’ Gulf Coast groups representing low-income workers say they want to make sure BP’s claims process doesn’t overlook workers like Townley in the rush to compensate fishermen and other high-priority spill victims…”
Groups Affected by Minimum Wage Hikes
- Opinions split on how hike in wage affects the economy, By Diane Stafford and Tony Pugh, July 26, 2009, Buffalo News: “The federal minimum wage rose from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour on Friday, bringing with it controversy about whether the increase is good or bad for the economy. The raise, which affects about 4 million workers nationally, is the third and final increase mandated by Congress in 2007…”
- Raising the bar: Minimum wage hike benefits seniors returning to work, By Vernon Tarver, July 26, 2009, Northwest Arkansas Times: “For minimum wage workers, Friday was a good day indeed. Federal minimum wages increased to $7.25 for employees covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, meaning workers receiving minimum pay in Arkansas can look forward to a 70-cent increase in hourly wages…”
- Minimum wage for tipped workers unchanged since 91, By Tony Pugh, July 24, 2009, Miami Herald: “Friday’s increase in the federal minimum wage left Leanne Foti feeling a little hollow. A single mother of two, Foti works as a waitress at the Bridgewater Diner in Bridgewater, N.J. So her base pay of $2.13 per hour didn’t budge Friday when the federal minimum wage went from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. Foti, 34, is one of roughly 146,000 Americans – many of them restaurant, hotel, car wash and nail salon employees – who are paid mainly through customer tips and therefore earn a lower federal minimum wage, $2.13 an hour…”
- Not everyone sees increase in paychecks, By Rhiannon Meyers, July 26, 2009, Galveston County Daily News: “After 30 years of waiting tables, Paula Baker earns just $1.03 more an hour than she did when she started working in the early 1960s. So although millions of minimum-wage earners received a raise Friday, the League City waitress, who’s been struggling for years to make ends meet, did not…”