On April 12, 2023

Minimum wage boost needed

Dear Editor,

Last week, on March 29, Vermont senior U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was grilling Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on the illegal union-busting activities used by that corporation. 

In order to embarrass our senior senator, Schultz shot back that Vermont has a paltry minimum wage of only $13.18/hour. Starbucks, his company, pays more.

We all know that an individual, never mind a family with children, can’t make any headway on such a low wage in today’s economy. 

The Vermont Legislature should have raised the minimum wage to $15/hour years ago to keep pace with the actual cost of living. 

Now, in 2023, they could at least start there on the way toward a wage that would allow a family a living without depriving their children of the necessities of life in Vermont today.

Geoffrey Cobden,

Weybridge

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Vermont’s public safety and recovery need adaptation

April 16, 2025
By Jenney Samuelson, secretary Agency of Human Services Vermont has long been a leader in treatment for addiction and substance use, particularly through its Hub and Spoke model, launched nearly a decade ago to address the opioid epidemic. This approach brought treatment into mainstream, integrating into doctor’s offices and expanding access to services through regional…

The state of maple

April 16, 2025
By Anson Tebbetts, Vermont Agriculture Secretary By the end of the month, we’ll have a clearer picture of how Vermont’s sugar makers view this season. How was the yield? What will prices look like? Where will the markets be? In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will release the official results of its annual…

We moved to Vermont to escape Florida’s schools

April 16, 2025
Dear Editor, If you’re wondering what Gov. Phil Scott and Sec. Zoie Saunder’s education plan will be like in practice, I can tell you­— our family lived through it in Florida. My family relocated to Vermont from Florida just a couple of months after Saunders and her family. Unlike Saunders, we moved to Vermont to escape Florida’s…

In support of Woodstock police chief

April 16, 2025
Dear Editor, We moved to Woodstock, Vermont, in early 2017. It was the first time we had spent any time in Vermont, and we fell in love. We loved the town, the community, and everything else. We opened a business, and one of the first people we met was then officer Joe Swanson. He was…