UAB Minimum Wage Increase Goes Into Effect This Weekend
One of Alabama’s largest employers is increasing its minimum wage to $11 an hour, officials say. The decision was made before a contentious minimum wage fight between city and state lawmakers.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham made this decision in January, long before Birmingham City Council and the Alabama Legislature fought over the city’s choice to raise its minimum wage. That battle ended with a new state law banning cities from changing their minimum wage.
UAB officials say they raised the minimum for hourly employees to keep pace with other organizations that can offer more money to potential hires.
“It was making it difficult for us to get the best talent for our entry-level positions, and then keep them,” says Alicia Jones, UAB Chief Human Resources Officer. The increase will cost the school a total of $391,000, she says.
The increase takes effect March 20, for roughly 1,100 university employees. The increase does not affect part-time student workers, Jones says. UAB’s current minimum of $8.24 an hour is already higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
