Workers: $1 hike in Mass. minimum wage is welcome

An estimated 280,000 Massachusetts workers — including 28,000 in Boston — will ring in the new year with a welcome addition to their paychecks.

That's the number of minimum-wage earners expected to get a $1-per-hour boost in their pay starting Jan. 1, when the first of three state Legislature-approved minimum-wage hikes takes effect, bringing the rate to $9-an-hour for 2015.

"That helps me very much," said Rita Dias, a 26-year-old Dorchester resident who helps support her mother and brother. "When it's going to be more up, it's going to be more helpful."

Dias earns the minimum wage for the 20 hours per week she works at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in Roslindale and CW Price in Dorchester.

"It's not enough," Dias said. "Sometime I need to think about the rent I need to pay or buy food and help my family."

The $1-per-hour increase in the minimum wage will be the first increase since 2006 and will be followed by $1 increases in 2016 and 2017.

"It's not a living wage, but it's at least a step toward it," said Lew Finfer, director of the faith-based Massachusetts Communities Action Network and co-chairman of Raise Up Massachusetts.

According to the MIT living-wage calculator, a single adult in Boston needs to make $12.65 an hour and work full time to earn a living to meet average monthly expenses.

Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community, religious and labor groups, collected 193,000-plus signatures to put a minimum-wage increase on the November ballot, prompting the Legislature to approve the wage hikes.

"We can come back in 2017 and hopefully get it up further," Finfer said.

Meanwhile, Mattapan resident Wendelly Innocent said the extra $1 per hour will provide a little help when it comes to making ends meet.

"It's better than the $8," said Innocent, 19, who works about 30 hours a week at a Dunkin' Donuts in Dorchester. "It's a struggle to make ends meet, paying bills. It's going to be less of a struggle, but it still will be a struggle."

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