A new commercial from the Employment Policies Institute shows the hardships caused by dramatic minimum wage increases across the country. While “Fight for 15” protests occur today, there are numerous stories of the harm of a $15 minimum wage increase.
The stories of five business owners are featured in the ad:
- Kelley Ulmer, owner of Almost Perfect Books in Roseville CA, was forced to close her store in July 2016 due to “the ever increasing minimum wage.”
- Houman Salem of ArgyleHAUS of Apparel in San Fernando, CA is expanding in Nevada rather than California because of the state’s minimum wage. You can read his op-ed in the LA Times here.
- Nat Cutler, owner the Abbot’s Cellar in San Francisco, was forced to close his doors in January 2015 due the city’s rising minimum wage, as well as other high business costs in the city.
- Larry Georgeton, co-owner of the Del Rio Diner in Brooklyn, NY, closed in July 2016 because of New York’s rising minimum wage. He explained of his employees, “when I told them we were closing the store a lot of tears were shed.”
- Muriel Sterling, owner of Sterling’s Family Childcare in Oakland, CA had to let one employee go and release some families due to the increase. Sterling states, “This wage increase has not only hurt the employees, it has hurt the families and the children.”