Signers include Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, Eileen Fisher, ABC Home, Buffalo First, Syracuse First, American Sustainable Business Council, BALCONY, National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association; Dal LaMagna, CEO, IceStone; David Bolotsky, CEO, Uncommon Goods; Melanie Beam, Director, WSG; Charles Wittman, President, Architectural Fiberglass Corp.; Martin Rothenberg, President, Glottal Enterprises; Nancy Norton, Owner, Stone Quarry House; many more. Click for SIGNERS LIST IN FORMATION.

We, the undersigned business owners and executives, support raising New York’s inadequate minimum wage to benefit business, workers and our economy. New York’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour amounts to just $15,080 for full-time, year-round work.

Excerpt: "The business owners with whom I talk every day believe that ... raising the minimum wage in fact helps small businesses. ... While some try to portray a minimum wage increase as a fight between business and workers, raising the minimum wage is in reality good for both."

Extensive research refutes the claim that increasing the minimum wage causes increased unemployment and business closures.

Nearly 60 Maryland business organizations, owners and executives endorsed legislation to raise the state’s inadequate minimum wage to $9.75 per hour by 2013. Representing small businesses in the restaurant industry, retail, manufacturing, construction, auto repair, cleantech, healthcare, finance and more, the coalition stressed that a strong minimum wage should be a state priority because it will boost the consumer demand vital for job creation and promote a strong economy for Maryland’s future.

By John Shepley
Carroll County Times, 3/22/11. Distributed by the American Forum.

As a small business owner, I support legislation to increase Maryland's inadequate minimum wage because it makes good business sense. It's an important part of our economic recovery and economic progress. I know businesses can pay a better minimum wage and still make a profit - it helps the business prosper.

New York Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Signatories.

Maryland Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Signatories.

Illinois Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Signatories.

“A higher minimum wage makes good long term business sense. We already pay well above the current Maryland minimum wage because it’s right for our business and our people. It helps increase employee retention and productivity, which gives us a dedicated workforce that helps our business prosper. An increased minimum wage would not hurt small businesses. Rather, increasing the Maryland minimum wage will boost our regional economy by giving a much-needed raise to the many people most likely to spend it at local small businesses. - John Shepley, Co-Owner of Emory Knoll Farms Inc., Maryland

"It is but equity...that they who feed, clothe and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged."-Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776

"Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business." -Jim Sinegal, CEO, Costco

"A minimum wage increase makes straightforward economic sense. It means more money in the hands of people who are going to spend it. Low minimum wages do NOT help small business. Small business owners know that keeping workers is easier and cheaper than finding and training new workers. And small business owners know that the longer an employee stays with you -- the more they know about your business and your customers, and the higher their productivity." -Lew Prince, Managing Partner, Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis, MO

"Solutions that depend on driving down costs by reducing wages and social benefits -- in advanced countries or in emerging economies -- are always dead ends… Strategies based on exploiting low-wage labor end up in competitive jungles, where victories are vanishingly thin and each day brings a new competitor… The activities that succeed over time are, in contrast, those that build on continuous learning and innovation."-Suzanne Berger, How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing To Make It in Today’s Global Economy (based on MIT Industrial Performance Center study of more than 500 companies)