Minimum Wage Rally
Beartooth (MT) NBC Online News
May 16, 2006
 
"Raise Montana" held a rally yesterday at the Capitol in support of raising the state's minimum wage. The group is trying to collect 22 thousand signatures in order to get the issue on the November ballot. So far, they have 16 thousand. Raise Montana wants to increase the current minimum wage of five dollars and fifteen cents an hour to $6.15. Steve Bullock, Raise Montana Director: "Realistically, at 10,700 a year, which is what a minimum wage earner makes a year, a person can't make a living. I mean, we think that $6.15 is a modest and reasonable step to start getting us there." Some area small business owners also turned out to support raising the minimum wage. Brian Smith, Blackfoot River Brewery owner: "I think that our minimum wage is too low and I don't think that for most Montana small businesses that raising the minimum wage will have anything but a positive impact." The current minimum wage was set in 1997.