On Thursday June 29th by a unanimous vote the Massachusetts House of Representatives moved to raise the state minimum wage to $8 over the course of three years.

It was widely expected that the House would only consider a raise of only one dollar to $7.75. However, after much advocacy by labor and working family allies, the House increased its original position and agreed to go to $8 per hour.

Shortly after the House voted to raise the minimum wage to $8 over 3 years, the State Senate adjusted its proposal to also raise the minimum wage to $8 over 2 years. The Senate's original bill raised the minimum wage to $8.25 over 2 years and indexed future raises to inflation.

Now it is on to a Conference Committee where the State Senate's bill, which would raise the minimum wage by $1.25 over two years to $8.00 will be negotiated with the House's 3-year incremental increase to $8.

Stay tuned to see what the final bill will be and if further advocacy is needed to get low-wage workers the acceptable raise they have been waiting for these last five years.