Fighting for a Livable Minimum Wage

Across Baltimore City, thousands of people work hard for wages they cannot live on. Many work multiple shifts or take on second and third jobs just to try to get by.

That’s why the Fight for $15 Baltimore Coalition, made up of unions and community groups, teamed up to advocate for a bill to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 by 2022. Under the measure, more than 80,000 workers, or 27 percent of Baltimore City’s workforce, would see their wages increase.

The Hatcher Group was proud to partner with the Fight for $15 Baltimore Coalition, developing and implementing a communications strategy to build public support. The Hatcher Group crafted social media content for Facebook and Twitter, developed a website to serve as a hub of information, created graphics, developed a paid advertising strategy, used videos to explain the impact of the wage, handled local and national media relations and drafted op-eds and letters to the editor for publications including the Baltimore Sun and Baltimore Business Journal.

The work paid off, and the Baltimore City Council passed the bill with support from 12 of 15 members. The campaign ended with a veto from Mayor Catherine Pugh that the City Council was unable to override. But the campaign significantly raised awareness about the need for a livable minimum wage in Baltimore and beyond.