Philadelphia business owners react to proposed $15 an hour minimum wage hike
WPVI
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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) Business owners in the Philadelphia region have been giving a lot of thought to the possibility of minimum wage increasing to $15 an hour. Food costs are going to go up and customers are not going to be coming out to be buying food. It s a lot, $15 an hour, said Christopher Stamoulis, the manager at City Line Pizza in Philadelphia.
Presently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which has not changed since 2009. Under the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, if passed, the minimum wage would increase to $15 an hour by June 2025.
President Joe Biden met with a group of 10 Republican senators who have proposed $618 billion in coronavirus aid, about a third of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking as congressional Democrats vow to push ahead with or without GOP support.
WASHINGTON Seeking to fulfill a long-standing Democratic ambition, a coalition of lawmakers introduced a bill on Tuesday that would raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The measure, which is also included in President Joe Biden s $1.9 trillion relief package, calls for gradually increasing the hourly wage in increments until it hits $15 in 2025. After that, it would be indexed to median wage growth a move meant to guarantee wages keep up with inflation without needing new legislation.
Democratic lawmakers have pushed for years to raise the minimum wage, which now stands at $7.25 and hasn t been increased since 2009.
President Barack Obama pressed in his 2013 State of the Union address to bump up the hourly rate in stages to $9 an hour over two years, and state and local governments around the country have done just that. Voters have consistently approved even bigger minimum wage hikes when they appear on the ballot most recently in Florida, where voters supported
Restaurants have faced strict capacity limits and customers hesitant to return to in-person dining, making it more difficult for tipped workers to increase their earnings.