Labor

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FILE - In this May 6, 2013 file photo, Illinois Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Skokie speaks with a legislative staffer at the state Capitol in Springfield, Ill. A report to be released Tuesday, Jan 21, 2014, says Illinois $160 billion pension plan ultimately won’t make much of a dent in the state’s growing deficits. Biss, a pension reform negotiator and mathematician by trade, has long urged that reforms are just a drop in the bucket. He says we have to take steps on the tax side and other steps on the spending side besides pensions. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)

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FILE - This Sept. 19, 2013 file photo shows Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington. The opening of Postal Service retail centers in dozens of Staples stores around the country is being met with threats of protests and boycotts by the agency’s unions. The new outlets are staffed by Staples employees, not postal workers, and labor officials say that move replaces good-paying union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

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FILE - This March 6, 2013 file photo shows a Staples office supply store Miami. The opening of Postal Service retail centers in dozens of Staples stores around the country is being met with threats of protests and boycotts by the agency’s unions. The new outlets are staffed by Staples employees, not postal workers, and labor officials say that move replaces good-paying union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers. (AP Photo/ Lynne Sladky, File)

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Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union poses for a photo at their Washington headquarters, Friday, Jan. 17, 2014. The opening of Postal Service retail centers in dozens of Staples stores around the country is being met with threats of protests and boycotts by the agency’s unions. The new outlets are staffed by Staples employees, not postal workers, and labor officials say that move replaces good-paying union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers. "It's a direct assault on our jobs and on public postal services," said Mark Dimondstein, president of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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FILE - In a Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 file photo, Gov. Jay Inslee gives the annual State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature, in Olympia, Wash. If the Democratic governor has his way, lawmakers will work over the next several weeks to increase the minimum wage, raise the state gas tax, provide financial aid to students living in the country illegally and add more funding to public schools. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

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FILE - In a Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 file photo, Gov. Jay Inslee speaks during the annual State of the State address to a joint session of the Legisture in the House chambers, in Olympia, Wash. Inslee, saying too many parents with full-time jobs are struggling to put food on the table for their families, has proposed raising Washington's minimum wage by as much as $2.50 an hour. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

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FILE - In this June 25, 2012 file photo, Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell speaks to reporters during a news conference in Anchorage, Alaska. Treadwell recently commented on raising the minimum wage. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

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FILE - This Oct. 15, 2013 file photo shows Dan Sullivan announcing a U.S. Senate bid in Anchorage, Alaska. Sullivan recently commented on raising the minimum wage. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, file)

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FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2010 file photo, Republican candidate Joe Miller speaks with reporters in Juneau, Alaska. Miller, a Republican nominee in the 2010 U.S. Senate race who won with a write-in campaign by Sen. Lisa Murkowski recently commented on raising the minimum wage.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

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FILE - In this March 28, 2012 file photo, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Begich recently commented on raising the minimum wage.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

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ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS JAN. 18-19 - In this Jan. 9, 2014 photo, employee Amanda Barr works on restocking food at Intel's Pennside Drive-In, in Reading, Pa. Gary Intelisano took over ownership of Intel's Pennside Drive-In in July, and he has made some big changes, staying open 7 days a week, year round. As Intelisano makes his plans, he worries about one big spike in costs: a possible raise in the minimum wage. (AP Photo/Reading Eagle, Lauren A. Little)

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ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS JAN. 18-19 - In this Jan. 9, 2014 photo, owner Gary Intelisano at Intel's Pennside Drive-In in Reading, Pa. Intelisano took over ownership of Intel's Pennside Drive-In in July, and he has made some big changes, staying open 7 days a week, year round. As Intelisano makes his plans, he worries about one big spike in costs: a possible raise in the minimum wage. (AP Photo/Reading Eagle, Lauren A. Little)

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ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS JAN. 18-19 - In this Jan. 9, 2014 photo, owner Gary Intelisano, left, and employee Amanda Barr work at Intel's Pennside Drive-In, in Reading, Pa. Intelisano took over ownership of Intel's Pennside Drive-In in July, and he has made some big changes, staying open 7 days a week, year round. As Intelisano makes his plans, he worries about one big spike in costs: a possible raise in the minimum wage. (AP Photo/Reading Eagle, Lauren A. Little)