But as lawmakers returned Tuesday from their Town Meeting recess, labor groups and some business owners were scrambling to make sure another top priority -- paid sick leave legislation -- isn't lost in the shuffle.

Former Gov. Madeleine Kunin said 20 percent of Vermont jobs offer no paid sick leave benefit. She said that disproportionately impacts low income women and mothers.

"If we achieve both, raising the minimum wage and providing people with the chance to care for their family, the state of Vermont will be the great beneficiary," Kunin said at a news conference.

She said polls show 72 percent of Vermonters support the earned sick leave bill and said while some business leaders fear employee abuse if granted the benefit, those concerns are unfounded.

"You get so much more back than you give if you see employees as human beings who have a life, who have children, responsibilities, who occasionally get sick or break an ankle, the former governor said.

But Jim Harrison, who represents 630 grocery store owners around the state, takes a different view.

The grocers association opposes both a higher minimum wage, and paid sick leave.

"Unfortunately you can't just wave a magic wand and say everything's great and everybody's going to get paid more," Harrison told NewsChannel Five. "Businesses, especially in our industry -- we've got a lot of part-timers -- there is an inflationary impact and at end of the day that as to be recovered somewhere."

Gov. Peter Shumlin called Harrison in for a chat about the issue Tuesday.

"Let's just say he has a different perspective," Harrison said.

Still, as Shumlin seeks passage of a bill to raise the minimum wage from the $8.73 to $10.10 an hour -- phased in over three years -- he is not prepared to support a sick leave bill in 2014.

"We all agree in principle," Shumlin told News Channel five last month. "We just haven't figured out a way to pay for it."