NY raises minimum hourly wage to $15 for state staff

The quest for higher minimum wages took a higher profile Tuesday as fast-food workers staged protests in cities around the nation, pushing for $15 an hour and union rights.

At a rally Tuesday in Manhattan, Cuomo said he expects New York’s action will influence other states. “Why? Because NY is not just another state my friends”, Cuomo said.

“We are restoring the fairness and economic justice that built the American dream and standing up for what’s right”, Cuomo said in a statement. “Put $15 on our check!” said a tweet from @FightFor15Mass, a Boston group organizing protests outside a McDonald’s there. The $15 an hour wage would be phased in through 2018 in NY City and then by 2021 statewide, Cuomo’s office said.

They plan to walk to city halls in their cities and end up with thousands of them showing up to protest at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

Dave Loobie, who works for UPS, joined crowds in Foley Square to show solidarity with their fight. Protesters cite research from organizations, like the United Way, claiming that $15 an hour is the minimum level that allows families to make ends meet.

On the Democratic side, in contrast, all of the top presidential candidates say they support raising the minimum wage to at least $12 an hour, with Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley backing a minimum.

Earlier in the afternoon, fast food workers rallied in Hartford along with the nursing home workers, as well as other healthcare and home care workers, to call for the minimum wage to be risen to $15. The increase will impact about 10,000 state workers, about 1,000 in NY City and the rest upstate. There will be about 10,000, which is 6.5 percent of the work force in the state that would get a wage hike.

Gov. Cuomo is also calling to increase the minimum wage across all industries in the state. He said 45 percent of hourly workers in OH earn less than $15 an hour. Yet, small businesses in the North Country say raising the wage would come at a price.

A Pasadenans for a Livable Wage campaign is trying to measure popular support for a $15 an hour wage in the City of Roses.