Portland businesses struggle to keep up with new $18 hazard pay

Many Portland businesses have raised prices or reduced staff and hours of operation in the hopes of holding on long enough to see the end of emergency declarations that triggered an $18 citywide emergency minimum wage that is now the nation’s highest.

Some low-wage workers welcome the new $18-per-hour emergency wage as recognition of the hard and dangerous jobs they are doing amid the coronavirus pandemic. A number of employers have refused to pay it thus far and are awaiting a decision in a lawsuit over when the wage hike should go into effect.

Rosemont Market and Bakery owner John Naylor said he pays the emergency wage at all seven market locations, including in Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and Yarmouth, which are not subject to the emergency wage ordinance.

“We treat our staff like family,” Naylor said. “What were we going to do, pay some people $18 and some $15 an hour?”

Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2021/01/24/portland-businesses-struggle-to-keep-up-with-new-18-hazard-pay/