Some of the main advocates behind a successful push to increase Massachusetts’ minimum wage to $15 an hour starting in 2023 said Tuesday morning the new baseline is still not enough to keep up with inflation pressures and economic hardships.
The minimum wage for tipped and non-tipped workers in Massachusetts is scheduled to increase Sunday as premium pay for working Sundays and on some legal holidays will end under a deal that lawmakers struck in 2018.
American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts President Beth Kontos said the new minimum wage is “still insufficient to meet the needs of working families, especially amid rising inflation.”
“And some workers are still not covered by the minimum wage, including municipal workers who have devoted their lives to public service and deserve more than poverty wages,” Kontos said in a statement.
The 2018 so-called “Grand Bargain” bill that Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law both raised the minimum wage for non-tipped workers incrementally from $11 to $15 an hour over the course of several years — and increased the service rate for tipped workers to $6.75 an hour.
Legislators scrambled to assemble the bill after interest groups, fed up with inaction on Beacon Hill, initiated ballot drives, and forced legislative leaders to engage with them at the negotiating table, or risk having major policies written into law by voters.
The Raise Up Massachusetts Coalition, community organizations, religious groups, and labor unions were part of...
Police have launched an investigation into alleged false accusation by Park Cheol-min, a former member of the Seongnam International Mafia. Park, ahead of the 2022 presidential election, raised al...