House and Senate negotiators have reached a compromise on a bill raising the minimum wage in Massachusetts. The bill filed Wednesday night by a six-member conference committee would increase the current $8-per-hour minimum wage by $3 over the next three years. The hourly minimum for the state’s lowest paid workers would go to $9 on Jan. 1, 2015, to $10 the following new year, and to $11 on Jan. 1, 2017. The legislation represents a compromise between a Senate bill calling for an $11 minimum wage indexed to inflation, and a House-passed bill calling for an increase to $10.50 per hour, without indexing. The compromise must be approved in both chambers.
BOSTON