New York Governor Proposes $15 Minimum Wage

Wage hike would apply to all New York residents statewide.

September 14, 2015

NEW YORK – Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, joined by Vice President Joseph Biden, announced a push to make New York the first state to adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage. The announcement comes after Acting State Labor Commissioner Mario J. Musolino signed a Wage Order designating $15 an hour as the statewide minimum wage for fast food workers.

“Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will bring fairness to 2.2 million working New Yorkers,” said Cuomo, adding that $15 an hour “will be the highest statewide rate in the nation and will herald a new economic contract with America, and it’s about time.”

The governor said the state will phase in the new wage so businesses can plan accordingly. “We have heard and we reject the political argument that has been made that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs—we believe the exact opposite. We believe that raising the minimum wage is actually going to spur the economy, because the families that get that money are going to spend that money.”

USA Today writes that franchise owners, however, say the increase singles them out. Pat Pipino, owner of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop in Saratoga Springs, said some franchise owners could be forced out of business by the minimum wage increase. He also predicted businesses may be forced to raise prices or cut employment to absorb the higher labor costs. "By executive fiat, with the stroke of a pen, our financial model goes to pot," he told the news source.

State Senate Republicans will also create problems for Cuomo’s plan. "Raising the wage floor in New York that far that fast could lead to unintended consequences such as severe job losses and negatively impact many businesses that are already struggling just to keep their heads above water," Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan told the news source.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has long supported the $15/hour minimum wage, and stated last week following the governor’s plan that he would “urge Albany to act quickly.”

For now, the $15/hour minimum wage hike will be phased in for fast food workers over three years in New York City and over six years elsewhere in the state. So far Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley in California, and Seattle have approved phased-in minimum wage increases that will increase the hourly rates to $15, or about $31,200 a year, reports The New York Times.

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