New York board set to back minimum wage hike for fast-food workers

It required city contractors to pay workers more than the California’s $9-per-hour minimum. Under state labor law, Gov. Cuomo is allowed to designate a wage board to propose an increase for a specific industry, and the board can institute changes without the Legislature’s approval.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pushing new legislation to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour.

California’s minimum wage is now $9 an hour, as of July 2014, and is about to extend to $10 an hour on January 1, 2016.

The federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 an hour since 2009.

Mr. Spencer said the case might be different for restaurant workers who work for tips. “We look forward to working with you and please give this a lot of thought”. “I can’t wait for the meeting”.

Mario J. Musolino, the state’s acting commissioner of labor, in ordering the creation of the panel, said, “I am of the opinion that a substantial number of fast-food workers in the hospitality industry are receiving wages insufficient to provide adequate maintenance and to protect their health”. It’s chaired by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and also includes Gilt Groupe founder Kevin Ryan and Mike Fishman, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees worldwide Union. They contended that a higher wage would put too much pressure on businesses struggling to emerge from the recession. Unfortunately, if my sales are down and I have fewer customers, I can’t pay everyone a higher wage.

Jay Holland, government affairs coordinator for the New York State Restaurant Association, said business owners feel like they’ve been “ignored by the board”. Though he was careful never to explicitly direct the three-member body on the $15-an-hour target, it was quite clear that’s what Cuomo was aiming for.

“And what you can do in Los Angeles or in New York may not work in other places”. In an effort to support his argument for more vociferous, strategic labor strike tactics, he shares with readers ” in 1945 and 1946 more than 4 million workers participated in the largest wave of strikes in American history.

One business owner said he will have to close his Castaic location with a minimum wage increase.

Dray Ramsey, assistant manager of the Subway shop on Public Square, said higher pay would be a good incentive for workers. “We never thought we would go through next year, an election year, without the minimum wage being a significant issue again”, Pokalsky said. The views of Clinton was eagerly watched as she previously said the US wages need to be higher, without committing to a national minimum wage of $12 an hour.

In a year marked by cynicism about Albany’s relevance to the lives of ordinary people, the wage board can shine a beacon of hope for New York workers.

In a statement, Mastro said the wage board’s expected action Wednesday is an “irrational and discriminatory race to judgment to achieve a predetermined outcome”.