Imagine a family member or friend who works hard at work but barely survives financially because they are earning the state minimum wage or a bit above.

Restaurant workers, home care providers, grocery workers, taxi drivers, retail workers and many others face that same dilemma — working hard for poverty wages.

Many of those workers aren’t teenagers, but adults and parents trying to make a living. And a lot of those folks are educated and are in those positions because that is all they could find for work.

Is it fair for working people to have to choose between feeding their family or paying rent? Or paying a bill or getting their kids decent clothes for school?

All jobs are important, and the people who do them should be able to afford the basics in life. Sadly, many of the minimum wage ($7.50 per hour) earners can’t even afford the basics.

Is it fair or right that folks who do work should have to go to the state and ask for help because their wages are so low? That is nothing more than corporate welfare — the greedy win and the taxpayers pay for it. I don’t think that is right.

Voters can change that in November by voting to increase the minimum wage. By doing so, they will help the working poor and the business climate in Maine. And no, the sky will not fall by increasing the minimum wage, contrary to the business groups whose sole interest is profit and more profit.

Joseph Mailey, Auburn

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