The Maine Small Business coalition revealed a list of 500 small businesses statewide that it said support a measure to raise the state’s minimum wage, WLBZ2, Bangor’s NBC affiliate, reported.
The group gathered at the Fork and Spoon Restaurant in Bangor Tuesday morning.
The question on the November ballot seeks to raise the minimum wage gradually to $12 an hour by 2020 and to $12 an hour for tipped workers by 2024.
Elisabeth Dean, the new owner of Fork and Spoon, which employs three full-timer and five part-time employees, told the news station that she pays more than the state minimum wage now, but “I think it’s a good idea because it seems fair.”
“I think it’s really important that the voters see that there’s a lot of business owners that think this is a really great thing,” Will Ikard, the coalition’s director, told the TV station.
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