Some bemoan hike in wages

BND.com:

Eric Wortham [owner of Pizza World in Granite City, IL], said he is more than happy to pay his employees as well as he can but believes that in the long run, the rate increase often is passed on to the consumer and can hurt business and ultimately those working for minimum wage.

"I don't think it does the kids any good," Wortham said. "It looks good for political reasons. Increasing the minimum wage sounds great, but the same kids they're trying to help, they are actually hurting."

He and other Illinois employers are about to be subjected July 1 to the second of three annual minimum wage hikes. On July 1, 2010, another scheduled 25-cent increase will push up the state's minimum wage to $8.25 an hour.

Although he did not increase his prices after last year's wage increase, Wortham said he will have to do it this time around.

"It affected my bottom line," he said. "This time, I will have to take a small increase. I may have to go up 10 percent across the board in product, but that may be lower than what other national pizza restaurants will have to do."

Wortham also said that the series of wage hikes that recently ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich pushed and then signed into law in November 2006 is a political ploy to drive up state tax receipts.

"When they increase the prices, more sales tax revenue will go to government establishments," he said. "It's a tax increase on the middle class."

Any local business owners concerned about this impending minimum wage increase?