The Raise Up coalition that sought an increase in the state's minimum wage ended its bid to put a question on the November ballot after the state legislature approved a bill increasing the $8-per-hour minimum wage to $11 by 2017.

Raise Up collected enough signatures to qualify a ballot question calling for a minimum wage hike to $10.50 per hour within two years and to tie future increases to inflation.  In response, the state legislature passed the Minimum Wage bill and it was signed by Governor Deval Patrick on June 26.

"This is a big victory for hard-working low-wage earners," said Mark DelloRusso, President of Local 888.  "Over 600,000 low-wage earners in Massachusetts will get wage increases totaling over $1.1 billion. That increase will not only help these workers, it will also be a boost to many of our members and the state’s economy."

[caption id="attachment_5014" align="alignright" width="300"]Governor Deval Patrick signs a minimum wage bill that passed largely as a result of the work of grassroots activists including many Local 888 members.[/caption]

At $11 an hour, Massachusetts will have the high­est state minimum wage law in the country. The only reason it passed was because thousands of grassroots activists from hundreds of congregations, community organizations and labor unions worked together to collect over 360,000 signatures to qualify raising the minimum wage (and earned sick time) for the ballot. House Speaker DeLeo and Senate President Mur­ray publicly stated that they had to take up the issue because Raise Up had the signatures to place it on the ballot.

"Now we have to turn our attention to winning the ballot initiative for earned sick time," said Lew Fin­fer, one of the co-chairs of Raise UP Massachusetts.

Over one million workers in Massachusetts are unable to earn paid sick time at their jobs. As a result, they are often forced to go to work sick in order to keep their job, or risk their financial stability to tend to an illness. The Earned Sick Time ballot initiative will ensure that all workers in Massachusetts can earn time to take care of themselves, the health of their children and close family members without losing critical wages or their job.

For more details about how the law would work visit //raiseupma.org/earned-sick-time.