| ||||||
Hundreds of Business Leaders Tell Congress to Raise Minimum Wage |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Business owners and executives across the nation are telling Congress that a $5.15 minimum wage hurts business, workers and the economy. The House passed a clean bill to raise the minimum wage. Speaking today at a Senate press conference, Lew Prince, co-owner of Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, MO, says, "A minimum wage increase makes straightforward economic sense. It means more money in the hands of people who are going to spend it." "As a business owner, I know that keeping workers is easier and cheaper than finding and training new workers," Mr. Prince says. "And the longer an employee stays with you, the more they know about your business and the higher their productivity." Mr. Prince is one of hundreds of businesspeople who have signed the Business Owners and Executives for a Higher Minimum Wage statement released today. Signer Kirsten Poole, co-owner of Kirsten's Cafe and Dish Caterers in Silver Spring, MD, says, "Trying to save money by shortchanging my employees would be like skimping on ingredients. "Congress should know the facts are very clear versus the misinformation that's been spread over the years," says Adnan Durrani, president of Condor Ventures in Stamford, CT and venture partner in Blue Chip Venture Capital. I have found that without exception in the successful ventures we've backed, providing sustainable living wages yielded direct increases in productivity, job satisfaction and brand loyalty from customers, all contributing to higher returns for investors and employers." In a recent National Consumers League survey, for example, 76 percent of American consumers said "how well a company treats/pays employees influences what they buy."
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
