Push is on to raise Massachusetts minimum wage to $11

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140222/NEWS/140228602/1994/NEWS



Gas station attendant Michael Bradford says a hike in the minimum wage will help workers like him pay their rent.

Push is on to raise Massachusetts minimum wage to $11

Michael Bradford doesn’t fault his boss for paying him minimum wage. But earning $8 an hour, he said, doesn’t come close to cutting it in terms of being able to afford an apartment in Taunton.

The 28-year-old said he’s grateful for his full-time employment at the Valero gas station/convenience store on Winthrop Street. But until the state minimum wage exceeds $8 per hour, he’ll continue to split the rent with his brother — which is why, he said, he looks forward to Bay State lawmakers enacting their first minimum-wage increase in six years.

“I would like to be able to support myself off one full-time job,” he said.

The move to boost the state’s minimum wage picked up steam last November, when the Senate voted 32-7 to raise the minimum wage from $8 to $11 an hour over three years.