Minimum Wage Hike Affects Thousands of Berkshire Workers

Staff ReportsiBerkshires Staff
05:34PM / Thursday, June 26, 2014Print Story | Email Story

Gov. Deval Patrick signs into the law the nation's highest minimum wage.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Minimum wage workers just got a boost in Massachusetts.

Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday signed a bill making the state's minimum wage the highest in the nation, raising it from the current $8 to $11 over the next several years.

According to data from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the hike will directly affect some 11,000 workers in the greater Pittsfield area and indirectly another 2,600, or about 27 percent of wage earners.

"Today, Massachusetts joins a growing coalition of states that have taken up the president's call to increase wages and ensure no American working full-time has to support a family in poverty," said the White House in a statement. "Governors, state legislatures, and private businesses are leading by taking action, and we urge Congress to join them so that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed."

Opponents have said the increase would negatively impact business and drive up consumer costs. The Massachusetts Restaurant Association has said it was better to create jobs and advancement opportunities rather than raise wages for entry-level workers such as teenagers.

Other than other hand, the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage has strongly advocated for the increase, saying it will give workers more dollars to spend, reduce turnover and enhance quality and morale. Representatives from the group planned to be at Thursday's bill signing.

According to MassBudget, more than 600,000 workers are at minimum wage, and more than 85 percent of those are age 20 and older. More than half are women and 140,000 are parents.

If the 1968 minimum wage had retained its value, it would be $10.86 today, according to MassBudget. Instead, minimum wage workers have seen their employment value drop by some $5,500 a year.

"Today, Massachusetts stands up and says that no one who works full time should live in poverty," said U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "Raising our state's minimum wage will help hundreds of thousands of workers make ends meet and will give them a fighting chance to build a better future for themselves and for their kids."

The bill also lowers unemployment insurance costs for employers, is designed to strengthen safety protections for workers and makes permanent the multiagency task force charged with combating the underground economy.

Eight other states have raised minimum wages this year, including Connecticut to $10.10 and Vermont to $10.50. President Obama has been lobbying Congress to set $10.10 as the federal minimum.

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Fenton: Governor's Council Must Deliver for the Berkshires

Community submissionGuest Column
10:22AM / Friday, August 28, 2026

I am a Springfield lawyer running for Governor's Council and I am asking for Berkshire County residents to support me over an incumbent from North Adams.

Here's why: Last year I learned about staffing issues in our regional courts that I could not ignore. In 2025, it was reported that four of Western Massachusetts' 11 Superior Court judgeships were vacant, all at the same time. A few weeks later, that grew to five vacancies. This meant there were only six Superior Court judges serving all of Western Mass at a time when Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties had more than 100 pending homicide cases.

Those numbers were alarming to me, so I started to engage with leaders in the community who work most closely with the court system and I came to learn that these vacancies were only the tip of the iceberg here in Berkshire County.

I learned that no Superior Court or District Court judge had been appointed from the Berkshires since the current incumbent took office. As a result, there is not a single Superior Court judge who lives in the Berkshires today, and several of the District Court judges drive in from other counties to support Berkshire courts in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and North Adams. Court staff also informed me about severe staffing shortages at the Berkshire Clerk of Courts office resulting in other counties needing to loan staff to the Berkshires just so hardworking employees can take a brief and planned summer vacation. This is not normal. These issues are a reflection of genuine problems with the Berkshire County court system and show a lack of proactive attention from our Governor's Councilor.

Instead of focusing on regional equity, I watched as the current incumbent celebrated that she has voted against the governor's nominees more than any other councilor, without much explanation as to why. Most recently, she voted against two extremely qualified former prosecutors for the Parole Board. This was despite an in-person plea from the governor and a letter of support from all the three of the district attorney's from Western Mass. Those votes do not show independence or standing up for principles, they demonstrate naivete, and an unwillingness to work with the key stakeholders.

I had seen and heard enough. I decided to jump in the race and challenge the incumbent to address these problems head-on.

I am a partner of a regional law firm. I understand our courts and the importance of having qualified, fair and hardworking judges. And I know how important it is to have judges from the Berkshires serving the Berkshires. To achieve that, you need strong relationships with the legal community and local stakeholders. You need to know how to use the power of the Governor's Council to fight forcefully for our region. And you need to be laser focused on identifying vacancies before they occur so that they can be filled quickly with local candidates.

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