NEW YORK – Earlier this week state Senator Daniel Squadron announced the Fair Wage Act, a bill that would require large employers and chain stores to pay their employees “a real living wage of $15 an hour indexed to inflation.”

“New York’s minimum wage does not go far enough to keep families out of poverty. Large chains, from McDonalds to 7-Eleven, have higher profits and lower costs, yet they still pay their workers poverty wages. We should raise the wage across the board in New York — and require those businesses that can most afford it to pay more,” said Squadron in a press release.

Austin Shafran, New York State legislative director for the Working Families Party, added that low-wage “fall far below while big corporations like McDonalds and Walmart, who refuse to pay their workers a living wage” and continue to reap huge profits. “It’s time to force these companies to take some responsibility and raise wages so our workers won't be forced to live in poverty,” he said.

The New York Times reports that the bill “would also apply to chain stores and restaurants with at least 11 locations nationwide, including their franchisees, and businesses involved with transportation like subcontractors at airports. Manufacturers would be exempt.”

The Times says the legislation will “face an uphill climb” if it’s to pass, noting that last year the Legislature allowed the minimum wage to increase to $9 an hour.

In response to the proposal, Kathryn S. Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, told the Times that that the bill showed a lack of understanding of the economics of running a franchise.

“They tend to be family-owned businesses, and a small franchise often doesn’t have the margins to even support a family,” Wylde told the newspaper, adding, “I think there may be a lack of understanding of how narrow the margins are in these franchise businesses, and I would like to see a study and analysis with industry input, before the legislators go off kind of half-cocked to legislate in an area where I doubt they have the information they need to write a sound bill.”