C.O. joins renewed debate over minimum wage hike

At Great Harvest Bread in Bend, employees make dough to earn it.

And while the bread rises, workers could soon see the same happen to paychecks.

Several minimum wage bills sit on Salem’s table, some that would push earnings up to $15 an hour — a clear jump from Oregon’s current minimum wage of $9.25.

“I think it would be a good idea for the entire country, including Oregon,” Bend resident John Rhetts said Tuesday.

For those who cut the checks, however, it’s tough to swallow.

“It is scary, because I make a premium product and I charge a premium price,” said Great Harvest Bread owner Cloyd Robinson. “It would worry me that I have to raise those prices a lot higher just to cover a wage that’s mandated from above.”

From making bread to selling jewelry, several Bend business owners told NewsChannel 21 that $15 an hour is just too high.

“Fifteen dollars an hour is a little frightening,” Douglas Jewelry Design owner Elyse Douglas said. “It would be more than I could sustain.”

Douglas said she supports higher wages, but employees must be worth the price.

“I think $12 might be a reasonable upgrade, and some of my best-paid employees who’ve been here for a couple years make $15,” Douglas said.

Others said everyone deserves to make more and be able to get by.

“People ought to be able to live on a wage that they earn, and lower than $15 an hour — it’s perfectly clear that you can’t live on that, especially if you have any sort of family,” Rhetts said.

Downtown Bend visitor Dan Early agrees.

“I think that a graduation process to $15 an hour makes sense,” he said. “I think businesses will cope.”

Public testimony on the issue continues this week at the Capitol. Lawmakers are considering more than a dozen bills that deal with the issue.