Workers at the bottom of the state’s pay scale will soon be able to afford two more gallons of milk and a loaf of bread a week.

Saying younger workers need jobs, a House panel voted Wednesday to allow Arizona companies to pay them less.

Minimum-wage workers in Arizona are starting the new year with a pay raise.

WASHINGTON - House-passed legislation boosting the federal minimum wage moves to the Senate, where Democrats intend to add billions of dollars in tax breaks to make it easier for business to swallow.

What do minimum wage, universal health care, the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, labor unions and school vouchers have in common?

What do minimum wage, universal health care, the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, labor unions and school vouchers have in common?

The East Valley's lowest-paid workers will see another bump in their pay in the new year.

Labor unions and their allies filed more than 209,000 signatures Monday to force a public vote over whether Arizona should have a minimum wage higher than required by federal law.

Labor unions and their allies filed more than 209,000 signatures Monday to force a public vote over whether Arizona should have a minimum wage higher than required by federal law.

A Tucson attorney has started an initiative drive to set a minimum wage for workers in Arizona above the federal standard.

Arizona voters think the state’s lowest-paid workers deserve a raise, according to unofficial election results released Tuesday night.

It turns out social conservatives aren’t the only group seeking to use state ballot issues to boost voter turnout for like-minded candidates. Last week, a coalition of labor unions led by the AFL-CIO submitted more than 209,000 petition signatures for an initiative to establish Arizona’s first state minimum wage at $6.75 an hour and tie future increases to inflation.

WASHINGTON - Republicans are warning Democrats not to tamper with Senate-passed minimum wage legislation, saying the bill's mix of $8.3 billion in tax breaks and a $2.10 an hour wage hike offers the right economic and political balance.

WASHINGTON - Democrats' promise of a quick increase in the minimum wage ran aground Wednesday in the Senate, where lawmakers are insisting it include new tax breaks for restaurants and other businesses that rely on low-pay workers.

The minimum wage in Arizona will go up by a dime with the new year, to $7.35 an hour.

PHOENIX — Arizona workers at the bottom of the pay scale are going to keep getting raises each year to match inflation, at least for the time being.

A voter-approved state minimum wage law contains no exemption for disabled workers who employers used to be able to pay less, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard concluded Wednesday.

Arizona businesses should have bargained on a higher minimum wage through the state Legislature, a lobbyist for a key business group said, rather than having to fight a far-reaching initiative.

WASHINGTON - The House voted to raise the federal minimum wage Wednesday for the first time in a decade, to $7.25 an hour, as majority Democrats marched briskly through their 100-hour agenda at the dawn of a new Congress.

We have defended Wal-Mart when its property rights have been attacked by governments and activists. But the retail behemoth deserves criticism when it uses its immense clout to itself manipulate government. An example of the latter is being advanced by Wal-Mart’s CEO, H. Lee Scott Jr.

Arizonans at the bottom of the wage scale will be getting a raise.

Workers at the bottom end of the pay scale should probably not be counting on the government to get them a pay raise, at least not this year. The director of the Arizona Industrial Commission said the figures she has seen so far suggest there will be no automatic increase in the state minimum wage.