economy

Today, Mainers for Fair Wages submitted 75,000 verified signatures to the Maine Secretary of State to place an increase in the minimum wage on the November ballot, far more than the 61,123 required. Supporters marked the event with a rally in the State House Hall of Flags and remarks from more than a dozen Mainers from across the state, many of them making low wages themselves, who helped to collect the signatures.

Members of the Maine People's Alliance hosted a press conference today in Bangor to release the latest figures on the "job gap" - the divide between what Maine workers need to earn to afford basic necessities and what available jobs in Maine actually pay. They were joined by City Councilor Sarah Nichols who advocated for Maine to follow the lead of Bangor and pass a minimum wage increase statewide in 2016 in order to begin to address the gap.

Tenants in purposefully-neglected residential properties and local housing and health experts joined with advocates from the Maine People's Alliance (MPA) and the Neighborhood Housing League (NHL) outside an apartment building in Lewiston today to release a report exposing the shady practices of three of the city's worst landlords.

Volunteers from Mainers for Fair Wages on Thursday kicked off Portland-area signature collection to place a minimum wage increase on the 2016 ballot.

More than 150 Mainers from every corner of the state convened in Augusta to learn about the citizens' initiative to incrementally increase Maine's minimum wage to $12 by 2020. Members of the Maine People's Alliance and Maine AFL-CIO spent the day learning about the details of the policy as well as strategizing on how to collect the thousands of signatures necessary to place an increase on the 2016 ballot.

Six Mainers of diverse backgrounds from all over the state each took their turn signing an application in Augusta today to begin gathering signatures for a citizen-initiated referendum to raise the minimum wage. The referendum, intended for the 2016 ballot, would see the minimum wage in Maine raised from $7.50 an hour to $9 an hour in 2017 and then by a dollar a year until 2020, when it would reach $12 an hour and then be indexed to the cost of living in future years.

Portland residents, low-wage workers and small business owners delivered stacks of postcard messages to City Council members today urging them to adopt the Mayor’s proposed ordinance to raise the minimum wage.

Members of the Maine People's Alliance hosted a press conference today to release the latest figures on the "job gap" - the divide between what Maine workers need to earn to afford basic necessities and what available jobs in Maine actually pay - and joined State Representative Gina Melaragno of Auburn as she unveiled her bill to increase the minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2020.

As part of a nation-wide day of action, the Maine People's Alliance today called on newly-elected Congressman Bruce Poliquin to take a stand for the millions of Americans trapped in a cycle of debt by short term, high-interest "payday"loans by supporting new rules reigning in predatory lending practices.

Fewer than half of Maine families earn a living wage, according to a new report released today by the Maine People's Alliance. "Equity in the Balance" is the latest in a series of reports authored by the Alliance for a Just Society on the job gap - the divide between what Maine workers need to earn to afford basic necessities and what available jobs in Maine actually pay.