Oppose Secretary Acosta's minimum wage increase

By Andrew Johnson
NNA President
Publisher, Dodge County (WI) Pionier

The federal Department of Labor is proposing an increase in the base salary level of exempt employees who work primarily by salary and do not receive overtime pay. The increase would be about a 50% jump in a single year from $23,660….to $35,308 annually.

This increase is a daunting single step for a small business to make in one year.  It is more likely to lead to job cuts than a general boost for employees.  National Newspaper Association proposes instead that the increase would be set to rise gradually over six years.  Our step increase would look like this:

 
Our version would be more manageable for small town businesses like ours. Your board of directors believes that not only community newspapers but many of the small businesses in our towns would benefit from this more rational approach.

Larger business organizations in Washington appear to prefer the single step, even though it would be much larger. But we think most small organizations will find a 50% increase pretty hard to take.

To persuade Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta that small businesses need a chance to absorb this increase in a normal business fashion, we need to get a lot of signatures from small businesses around this great country.

So, I am asking for your help. 

1. Please read the attached letter and if you agree, sign your name at the petition link.
2. Take this letter to business colleagues in your town and help us collect other signatures on this same petition. All they need to do is click on the link and add their names: https://nna.formstack.com/forms/flsa

We need to do all of this work by May 1.  I know it is a busy time, but this is a project that will help all of us better protect our businesses, our employees and our towns.  If you have questions, please contact NNA’s public policy director Tonda Rush (tonda@nna.org). I appreciate your support and look forward to watching our petition grow.