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A Benefit To Businesses


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Health Insurance Giant Aetna Is Raising Wages For Its Lowest Paid Workers

A common refrain from some in the business community who oppose a minimum wage increase is that higher wages for low-income workers will be costly enough to either force businesses to raise prices for consumers or cause them to lay off workers. Aetna, a Fortune 100 company with nearly 50,000 employees, just made a decision that sharply rebukes that argument. The health insurance giant has announced it is raising the minimum wage for its workers to $16 per hour. In doing so, the company specifically cited the business benefits, not the costs, of the move.

The raises, which comes on the heels of similar wage increases by big name companies like Starbucks and Gap, are significant. An estimated 5,700 Aetna employees will get a pay bump — an 11 percent increase on average and up to 33 percent for some workers. And it won’t be free: the company expects the move to cost an estimated $14 million this year, and $25.5 million in 2016.

Nonetheless, Aetna CEO Mark T. Bertolini laid out the business case for raising the wages of low-income employees. Here are a few of the reasons he cited, in an interview to the Wall Street Journal:

  • Adapting the company for the future: “We’re preparing our company for a future where we’re going to have a much more consumer-oriented business.”
  • Workforce development: “[Aetna wants] a better and more informed work force.”
  • Reducing turnover costs: According to the Wall Street Journal, “Mr. Bertolini said Aetna hopes to reduce its turnover costs of around $120 million a year and improve the quality of job prospects and the engagement of workers who interact with consumers and health-care providers.”

And then there is a broader reason that factored into Mr. Bertolini’s decision: “It’s not just about paying people, it’s about the whole social compact,” Mr. Bertolini said, adding, “Why can’t private industry step forward and make the innovative decisions on how to do this?”

BOTTOM LINE: The decision by Aetna to raise wages for their low-income employees demonstrates one of the business imperatives for raising wages. Simply put, investing in workers pays off for companies in more ways than one. We’d thank Aetna for it’s decision, but we know that the company didn’t made this move because of groups like ours. It made the move because it cares about its workers, and it cares about its bottom line.

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ACA 101


Affordable Care Act 101 Webinars

SBA and Small Business Majority will host a free Affordable Care Act 101 webinar so small business owners can learn the basics of the Affordable Care Act and how they can enroll in health insurance marketplaces.

Free Affordable Care Act 101 webinar covering healthcare reform and your small business hosted by SBA and Small Business Majority. Click to RSVP today

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Low Wages? Low Sales.

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The Middle Class Squeeze Is Worrying Big Retailers, Too

Earlier this month, CAP released a report highlighting how squeezed middle-class Americans have become. That report showed that while the cost of attaining middle class security has increased by over $10,000 since 2000, wages for most Americans have remained stagnant.

The cycle of economic stagnation—low wages, leading to weak demand, leading to slow growth, leading again to low wages—is not only hurting America’s hard-working citizens, but it is also hurting businesses where those workers might spend their money and in turn boost the entire US economy. Wall Street is finally starting to get it: Standard & Poor’s has issued a report saying that inequality is holding back economic growth and Morgan Stanley has warned investors that stronger wage growth is critical to our economic growth.

A new CAP report released today provides further evidence that this squeezed middle class weakens our entire economy, hurting both businesses and the consumers who support them. The report, ”Retailer Revelations,” looked at the financial reports of the top 100 retailers in America and statements of Wall Street’s top economists about the outlook for the country’s biggest retailers. The consensus: trickledown economics is not working.

It has taken more than five years for retail spending per person to reach its prerecession level in the United States and business have begun to realize the impact that is having on their bottom line. Using new information to show the impact middle-class stagnation has had on the economy, the report demonstrates that businesses’ support for economic policies that grow the middle class would directly benefit their own business.

Here are some key findings:

  • Eighty-eight percent of the top 100 US retailers consider weak consumer spending a risk to their stock price.
  • Sixty-eight percent cite falling or stagnant incomes as a risk to their stock price — roughly double the percent that cited them in 2006.
  • Fifty-seven percent cite rising costs of essentials like housing, healthcare and energy, as risks to their stock price, further showing the middle class squeeze.
  • Wall Street economists even argue that low wages drive low demand and high unemployment.
  • Retailers could see their bottom line increase by supporting a growth-oriented agenda with policies such as a minimum wage increase.

BOTTOM LINE: America’s biggest retailers have realized that when the middle class loses, everyone loses. It’s time conservative lawmakers and pundits realized it too. An economy that works for everyone is an economy that grows from the middle out.

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The 114th


VoteVets.org

This afternoon, members of the 114th Congress of the United States will swear to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies … an oath that begins with the same words the Oath of Enlistment begins with for most military men and women.

But this is a different Congress — a wave swept in a number of new Tea Party Representatives and Senators hell-bent on rolling back progress on veterans’ issues at home and escalating our military involvement in wars abroad.

Before the new Congress is sworn in, we want to know what are the issues you’re most passionate about in 2015. Let us know here.

Out of 535 members of the new Congress, only 25 have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and only 100 have served at any time. That’s down from a time not too long ago when a majority of Representatives wore the uniform at some point in their lives.

With more Tea Partiers and fewer members who have served, that makes protecting veterans’ health care more difficult, preventing further escalation in Iraq and Syria more challenging, and enacting programs to help veterans to transition at home after returning from abroad so much more important.

Your priorities are our priorities — let us know the issues you’re most concerned about here:

http://action.votevets.org/priorities

Of course, we’ll continue working towards electing more veterans in 2016. There are a number of veteran leaders consider Senate and House runs that we’ll be following closely.

Thanks for standing with us.

Jon Soltz
 Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
 VoteVets.org

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did you know Social Security Admin is closing dozens of their offices


campaignForAmericaLgo

The Social Security Administration has lost its mind.

 They’re about to close dozens of field offices. But don’t worry, they say. Seniors will use their smartphones or laptops if they need help.

 The SSA may think they’ve got a great money saving idea, but this could be disaster for seniors with vision problems or arthritis, or those who can’t afford a computer.

 Social Security is a great system, but it’s often complex. While many seniors are expert computer users, others will struggle.

 Our parents and grandparents deserve to have a human face to guide them. They’ve done too much for us to be abandoned now.

Please sign our petition demanding the Social Security Administration keep community field offices open.

It’s the least we can do