Petition aims to raise Nebraska's hourly minimum wage to $9 by 2016

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Martha Stoddard

LINCOLN — A group called Nebraskans for Better Wages will start collecting signatures next week on an initiative petition to raise the state’s minimum wage.

The group hopes to put the issue before voters in November.

Their proposal would push the minimum wage to $9 per hour in two steps. It would raise the minimum wage to $8 an hour for 2015, with the next step kicking in on Jan. 1, 2016.

Nebraska’s current minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, the same as the federal minimum wage.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20140514/MONEY/140519223/1685#petition-aims-to-raise-nebraska-s-hourly-minimum-wage-to-9-by-2016

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In Omaha, bus tour calls for hourly minimum wage over $10

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140424/MONEY/140429278/1697#in-omaha-bus-tour-calls-for-hourly-minimum-wage-over-10

By Shelby Fleig PUBLISHED FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014 AT 12:00 AM / UPDATED AT 9:23 AM

The Monument to Labor along Riverfront Drive served as the backdrop Thursday for the Omaha stop of the “Give America a Raise” bus tour promoting a higher minimum wage.

The tour is sponsored by Americans United for Change, a Democratic Party-leaning group that is calling for a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour, up from $7.25.

State Sen. Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha said Nebraska has one of the lowest unemployment rates and one of the highest rates of working parents in the country.

Yet childhood poverty has grown by 30 percent in the past four years, he said.

FULL story at link.

[SamKnause]

1. Too little.

The U.S. model for deciding what constitutes poverty needs to be updated.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Too little, too slow.

And they need to remove the exemption/second rate for tipped workers.

[Blue Owl]

2. Whoa, easy there Nebraska

[shenmue]

3. About time

I hope it'll be more than that before long.