Author Archives: *

by - 0 comments

A 6-1 vote in favor of a Bangor city minimum wage hike as talks continue

City Councilor Joe Baldacci at a Bangor city council meeting being interviewed by the press. Photo by Ramona du Houx

City Councilor Joe Baldacci at a Bangor city council meeting being interviewed by the press. Photo by Ramona du Houx

By Evan Belanger, Read the full BDN article here.
Aug. 24, 2015

Voting 6-1 on Monday, the City Council approved a resolution expressing support for an ongoing petition drive aimed at increasing the state’s minimum wage for the first time since 2009.

The Maine People’s Alliance is gathering signatures to force a citizen-initiated referendum on the November 2016 ballot after failing for years to push the item through in Augusta. “We’re not doing that because we have a deep love of direct democracy that overwhelms all else. We’re doing that because it is our only option at this point,” Mike Tipping, communications director for the MPA, told the City Council in July.

With councilors Joe Baldacci and Patricia Blanchette absent from Monday’s meeting, Councilor Gibran Graham cast the only dissenting vote, arguing that the council’s time would be better spent supporting that actual ballot initiative and not just the petition effort.He also said that passing a local minimum wage immediately would do more to support the MPA’s statewide effort. “I think no other support could be given that would be of greater consequence than showing that the minimum wage can be raised and needs to be raised earlier,” Graham said. Continue reading →

by - 0 comments

A full-time minimum-wage job can’t get you a 1-bedroom apartment anywhere in America

by Ezra Klein on May 28, 2015, read full article on VOX

There is no state in the union where a full-time, minimum-wage worker can afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment for less than 30 percent of his paycheck (which is a standard measure of housing affordability).

That’s the depressing takeaway from a new report by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. The paper includes this map tallying the hours a worker would have to put in at her job each week to rent a one-bedroom apartment without it eating more than 30 percent of her wages:

Screen Shot 2015-08-24 at 12.10.08 PM

In Texas, a minimum wage worker needs to put in 73 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom unit. In California, it’s 92 hours. In the District of Columbia, it’s a solid 100 hours.

Continue reading →

by - 0 comments

Raising the minimum wage talks continue in Bangor, Maine

City Councilor Joe Baldacci at a Bangor city council meeting being interviewed by the press. Photo by Ramona du Houx

City Councilor Joe Baldacci at a Bangor city council meeting being interviewed by the press. Photo by Ramona du Houx

By Ramona du Houx

From an article in Maine Insights:

The City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee took new action on August 18th to progress the minimum wage issue.

Earlier this year, Bangor City Councilor Joe Baldacci’s proposed an ordinance that would increase the local minimum wage from $7.50 per hour to $8.25 per hour on Jan. 1, 2016, and eventually increase it to $9.75 per hour in 2018. After that, the Bangor minimum wage would fluctuate with the consumer price index to keep up with inflation.

At the meeting a compromise proposal authored by Councilor Josh Plourde was discussed that included a council resolve to support the Maine People’s Alliance referendum on the November 2016 ballot that would increase the minimum wage statewide to $12 an hour.

The compromise does not exempt tipped workers, workers under the age of 18 or businesses with five or fewer workers. Baldacci is in favor of these changes but he would prefer to enact a local wage hike sooner than waiting for the referendum of 2016 to pass. Too many local citizens need a minimum wage increase — now.

“We are moving in the right direction. The right direction is raising people’s wages. Sometimes this process takes longer than any of us like. But I try to keep my eyes on the prize. And the prize here is raising wages for hard working people,” said Baldacci. Continue reading →

by - 0 comments

Compromise on raising Bangor minimum wage talks to continue

*'s avatarBangor City Councilman Joe Baldacci

Screen Shot 2015-07-29 at 10.12.46 AM

“I will vote for a minimum wage increase as early as possible and if there are four other councilors who will join me in doing that, then I will be very happy,” said Bangor City Councilor Joe Baldacci. “Until that point reaches us, I want to guarantee that wages in Bangor will go up.”

The following are excerpts from the Bangor Daily News article of Aug, 18, 2015
By Evan Belanger, BDN Staff

The City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee failed Tuesday to move forward a proposed compromise on a local minimum-wage increase.

The committee was expected to discuss possible amendments to Councilor Joe Baldacci’s proposed ordinance, which would increase the local minimum wage from $7.50 per hour to $8.25 per hour on Jan. 1, 2016, and eventually increase pay for the city’s lowest-paid workers to $9.75 per hour in 2018. After that, the local minimum wage would fluctuate…

View original post 444 more words

by - 0 comments

Small businesses declare support for minimum wage ballot campaign in Bangor, Maine

From Maine Insights. Full article go to: Small businesses announce support for minimum wage ballot campaign in Bangor, Maine

Elena Metzger, owner of Northeast Reprographics, a print and copy shop in downtown Bangor. Courtesy photo.

Elena Metzger, owner of Northeast Reprographics, a print and copy shop in downtown Bangor. Courtesy photo.

By Ramona du Houx

On July 28, 2015, 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. Supporters spoke about how raising wages improves their communities and their businesses, and unveiled a list of over 150 small business owners from across the state that are publicly supporting the increase.

“Raising the minimum wage is a matter of basic fairness for working Mainers, but it would also make a more level playing field for my business,” said Elena Metzger, owner of Northeast Reprographics, a print and copy shop in downtown Bangor. “I’m competing against large corporations who are not personally invested in the people or community of Bangor. With a higher minimum wage, these big corporations would have to do the right thing like I already do and provide for their employees.”

The last time the minimum wage was raised in Maine was under Governor John Baldacci in 2009. The current $7.50 is a poverty wage and only .25 cents higher than the federal minimum. People working for minimum wage often are full time workers leaving them no time to progress their lives in other ways. Many have said they would like to earn a college degree but can’t even dream to do so on their wages. Many would just like a little cash to shop downtown. Continue reading →

by - 0 comments

U.S.Senate votes down federal minimum wage hike

Screen Shot 2015-07-29 at 11.41.05 AMArticle from the Washington Examiner

By JASON RUSSELL • 3/30/15
The Senate voted down a budget amendment calling for a “substantial increase” in the federal minimum wage Thursday, with 52 votes against and 48 votes in favor. A simple majority of 51 votes was required for passage.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the amendment to the Republican budget resolution, and it was co-sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The vote was mostly along party lines, with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the only Republicans to vote in favor. Continue reading →