Grocer announces it is increasing its starting wage to $12 an hour.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
New Seasons announced it is increasing its starting wage to $12 an hour as it called for a higher minimum wage Thursday.
The grocer has about 3,300 workers in its 17 stores which span the West Coast.
New Seasons’ chief executive Wendy Collie warned, though, that the grocer could not reasonably raise wages to $15 per hour on its own. Instead, she called for public-policy changes that would create a level playing field while “rising the tide for all ships.”
“…Oregon needs an increase in the minimum wage,” Collie said in a prepared statement. “It needs to be done in the right way, and we are hopeful that the 2016 legislative session will resolve this issue for the state of Oregon.”
New Seasons favors a plan like Seattle’s or San Francisco’s, where wage increases were phased in gradually. The grocer prefers increases that account for the economic differences of small and large businesses.
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
Several businesses have already called for better wages for workers.
North Star, a new organization created by New Seasons co-founder Stan Amyand Rejuvenation founder Jim Kelly, hasn’t yet outlined a specific measure it hopes to propose to lawmakers or voters. A handful of raise-the-wage proposals have popped up in Oregon following nationwide efforts to increase compensation for the economy’s lowest-paid workers.
“It needs to be done in the right way, and we are hopeful that the 2016 legislative session will resolve this issue for the state of Oregon,” added Collie.
(SOURCE: Portland Business Journal)
The other Portland-area businesses that called for higher wages:
- Better World Club
- Chef’s Table
- FMYI
- Grain & Gristle
- Grand Central Bakery
- HOTLIPS Pizza
- Looptworks
- Morel Ink
- Neil Kelly
- ¿Por Qué No?
- The Joinery.
RELATED NEWS: Portland area dominates list of cities with fastest-rising rents; Wages, benefits grow at slowest pace in 33 years; Where does Oregon rank among the worst states to make a living?; Oregon House speaker wants $13 minimum wage
