Job Creators Network Applauds Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh’s Veto of $15 Minimum Wage

Atlanta – Today the Job Creators Network (JCN) applauded Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh’s veto of a $15 municipal minimum wage which passed the City Council earlier this week. This move is critical in keeping entry-level job pathways open for young jobseekers struggling with sky-high unemployment. Preserving these entry-level jobs are a fundamental component of the fight for $50,000 a year jobs because they allow jobseekers to gain a toe-hold on the career ladder.

JCN was heavily engaged in this issue, with JCN President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz appearing on WBFF to explain the consequences of the proposal, and JCN Member John Danko writing an op-ed in the Baltimore Business Journal explaining how the minimum wage would affect his longstanding Baltimore business and its employees.

Both Ortiz and Danko highlight JCN’s new Fight for $50 campaign, which calls on policymakers to pursue legislation that will allow people to raise the wage ceiling for average workers, not the wage floor. Ortiz had a recent op-ed in USA Today giving an overview of the campaign.

View the WBFF segment here. Read the Baltimore Business Journal op-ed here. Read the USA Today op-ed here. To learn more about the Fight for $50, click here.

JCN President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz released the following statement:

Today Mayor Pugh made a courageous decision to speak truth to power and protect her entry-level jobseekers from seeing their employment opportunities outlawed by the good intentions of progressive activists. Rather than setting counterproductive wage floors, Mayor Pugh has joined with the growing number of policymakers who recognize that preserving employment opportunities that put employees on a path to fight for $50,000 a year careers is the best approach for their constituents and localities.